Bogusboy reports from Ormeau Park

Despite reaching the quota of 1200 runners well in advance of race day, 863 took the line for the 35th edition of the Seeley Cup, still regarded by many as the premier 10k in the NIAF calendar. 20 of the 22 NAC registered athletes made it to the start line and were rewarded with some fantastic times. With many of the ‘big guns’ opting to travel to Dublin for the XC on Sunday (see separate report), club bragging rights were clearly up for grabs. Opinions were divided among the pundits with both O’Hare and Tumelty emerging as favourites. O’Hare would triumph and return as first NAC athlete in conditions that were ideal given the time of year. Murtagh ran a really steady race with even splits to follow O’Hare home a minute later. He would be one of 7 NAC athletes to finish between 37 and 38 minutes as a stream of red and yellow vests came across the line. Wonderwall earned a Christmas dinner for his efforts, while one of his closest challengers donated his breakfast and lunch to the grass verges of Ormeau Park as club rivalry reached a crescendo in the final 2k as the protagonists jockeyed for good road position.

Man of the Match
McQuaid had a monumental run and was prematurely declared ‘Man of the Match’ by the Prophet during the now mandatory organically crafted artisan coffee in KaffeO. Brendan set out with the aim of breaking 40 minutes for the first time and ended up dipping under the 39 minute mark – some achievement. Carson lodged an official complaint claiming that the superb time of 41:39 by V70 Jim Patterson was more worthy of the award, but this was rebuffed on appeal due to the fact that Patterson had already been rewarded that day; he was given all the bananas and apples that were left over at the end! He even dragooned Jim Johnston into helping him carry them to the car. Well done Jim on an outstanding performance that highlights once again the benefits that invariably accrue when one trains regularly with one’s club! Patterson now has enough apples to set up an artisan brewery! The Man of the Match issue remains unresolved, but rumours abound that the Prophet has be sent to McQuaid’s house to retrieve the bottle of Champagne so that Patterson will have enough time to sell it on e-bay before Christmas.

They all did well!
Kris Fegan would break 40 for the first time as would Richard Rodgers (who remarked that the last time he ran a sub-40 the Bay City Rollers were No1 in the charts!!!). Frank Cunningham turned in his second consecutive sub 40 – like a number 39 bus, you wait ages for one and two come at once! Gerard McAuley was aiming for a 39:59 and was disappointed to miss his target, running 9 seconds faster than intended to finish in 39:50. In all 14 NAC athletes broke the magic 40 mark and Patricia McKibbin was unbelievably close to this; it is only a matter of time. Best negative split award goes to Ciaran Og Mussen who ran the second half 32 seconds faster than the first half, prompting one or two to ask why he didn’t push on a bit earlier – the reason was quite simple; Thursday’s lunch of Shepherd’s Pie, baby boiled spuds, roasties, mash and chips had not quite settled in his stomach! Rita Devlin had a PB and Paul Fitzpatrick continued his excellent improvement over the shorter stuff. In typical NAC fashion all were in their slippers by the fireside by 6:30pm, enjoying a hot milky drink in preparation for climbing the wooden ladder to Bedfordshire!!!

Results

Newcastle AC 2016 Seeley Cup Pundit Challenge

21 runners going to post

Scoring:
+/- 15 seconds = 10 points
+/- 30 Seconds = 8 points
+/- 45 Seconds = 6 points
+/- 60 Seconds = 4 points
+/- 75 Seconds = 3 points
+/- 90 Seconds = 2 points
+/- 120 Seconds = 1 point