The summer racing season always brings the annual local races into the spotlight, and with events taking place closer to home, athletes relish the opportunity to compete on familiar routes while representing their local clubs.
Mary Houston approaches the highest point of the race at the Boundary
Across the district, the red and yellow vests of both senior and junior members were a familiar sight, with Newcastle AC athletes enjoying a dominant presence on podiums throughout the region. In particular, the club’s junior squad made their mark in impressive fashion, claiming multiple victories and underlining the strength of the club’s emerging talent. Continue reading
The popular Co. Down 5K took place on Thursday evening in Downpatrick, attracting runners of all ages to one of the region’s fastest and best-supported road races.
Niamh Watson delighted with her performance
Known for its flat and speedy course around the Grove Shopping Centre, competitors tackled an unusual 7.5-lap route featuring smooth corners and long straights thatregularly produce personal bests across all four races. Despite the repetitive nature of the course, which can feel like running on a tarmac track, the event remains a favourite on the local racing calendar thanks to its excellent organisation, enthusiastic crowd support and range of children’s races that kick off the evening’s action.
A small but strong group of Newcastle AC runners made their way to Larne on Saturday morning to compete in the Larne 10 Miler.
Conditions were windy and cold but that didn’t stop some impressive results. Francis Tumelty was 2nd V55, Sinead Murtagh was 2nd V40 and Ernest Hall was 1st V70. There were 723 finishers.
Newcastle AC Results (finish time and 5mile split):
On Sunday, attention turned to the roads for Jimmy’s 10K, hosted by East Down AC, where blustery conditions made for a challenging race. Despite the wind, Niall Goodman delivered a commanding performance to win the race in 33:08, leading home another strong showing from Newcastle runners. Continue reading
In addition to the folks running at Trim 5 members also travelled to Dundalk to take part in the Dundalk Half Marathon and 10k.
The half marathon was two laps of the 10k course through the streets of Dundalk. Conditions in the morning were windy with steady rain. Thankfully the rain stopped just after the half marathon kicked off a 10am. Newcastle AC had 3 runners taking on the half. First home was Sinead Murtagh in 1:26:51 (73rd overall, 6th female, 1st F40), closely followed by Frank Cunningham in 1:26:54 (74th overall) and Anthony Young in 1:38:33 (312th).
The 10k started at 10.20am. First home for the club was 10k Sam McNeilly ran a time of 41:32 (51st and 6th female) and Ciara Savage completed the course in 46:51 (133rd and 21st female). There were 1,576 finishers in the half marathon and 972 finishers in the 10k.