NAC notes by Bogusboy 

The undoubted highlight of the weekend was the performance of seasoned campaigner and ever-youthful Jim Patterson. Now in his seventies, Patterson proved that age is no barrier to success by competing in the 14^th World Masters’ Mountain Running Championships in Prustuke Slovakia. Patterson will return to Newcastle a World Champion after beating off all rivals to win the world v70 crown.  He recorded a time of 55:03 and had 19 seconds to spare over German Wolfgang Huber, with Belgian athlete Omer Van Noten third, 2 minutes and 16 seconds adrift of Patterson.

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The weekly round up by Bogusboy

Just after the weekly submission last week, word filtered through of the achievement of club stalwart Paul Fegan at the Quadrathon in Donegal. Paul was a seasoned Hill & Dale campaigner with a particular penchant for unusual and long distance races in rarely mentioned places before injury forced him to hang up the Walsh PBs. However, undeterred by this he is now a regular walker and a great supporter of his club mates at races, often providing the pictures that accompany the racing narrative. He walked the four marathons on consecutive days to earn one of the greatest hauls of bling ever offered as the medal for each day forms one overall medal at the end of the event, the size of which would cause Mr T to suffer from a bad back! Well done to Paul on a great accomplishment.

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Well done to former Hill & Dale stalwart runner and now resident photographer Paul Fegan who successfully walked all four legs of the Donegal Quadrathon Marathon. The event demands participants to complete a marathon a day for four successive days. Well done Paul. Great walking.

Newcastle AC notes by Bogusboy

Almost fresh from his Seven Sevens victory on Saturday, Seamus Lynch took to the line in his home town race hosted by Rathfriland Runners. He himself described it as an ‘Almost flat course’, and for Seamy it probably was compared to the summits of Donard, Lamagan and Commedagh etc. from the previous weekend. For the rest of us mere mortals it was a tough but fair 10k course through the rolling hills of the surrounding area, with a fast start and a long uphill finish back to the Milestone.

Lynch, accompanied by Newry’s Dermot Mathers, led from start to finish and edged ahead in the final kilometre to win in a time of 34:50. Mathers was 2nd just a few seconds adrift and Gordy Graham was 3rd in 36:15. Jack O’Hare, no stranger to the hills, continued his great run of form with an excellent 5th place finish in a time of 37:24. The Newcastle runners then came thick and fast, Stephen McNally and Niall Fitzpatrick finished 11th and 12th with times of 40:28 and 40:33 respectively and on a flatter faster course they’ll be well under the magical 40 barrier. Continue reading →

Newcastle Athletics Club Running Diary by Bogusboy

NAC athletes have been competing here, there and everywhere in the last two weeks. Below is a round up of all what has been happening on the roads, in the parks and in the hills; evidence of the eclectic blend of athletes that make up Newcastle & District Athletics Club! Continue reading →

A synopsis of the last 7 days by Bogusboy

Kerry O’Flaherty represented Ireland on the track at the European Team Championships (ETC) only 6 weeks after picking up a calf tear during a 5000m on the track in Solihull. The ETC take place every two years and Ireland proudly participates in League, 1 competing against 11 other countries. The meeting took place in Vaasa, Finland north of Helsinki and at this time of year it doesn’t go dark. O’Flaherty finished 7th in the 3k Chase in 10:11, a time below her best but clearly on the road to full recovery after the injury. She scored 6 points for the team – more than some singers have amassed for Ireland in recent Eurovision Song Contests!!! Overall, Ireland finished 8th and retained its position in League 1 for the next championships in 2019. Continue reading →