Home town win for Lynch and McVeigh leads the way in the 5k

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.

 

Kieran ‘Miley’ Morgan and ‘DJ Normski’ Smyth, both slighted jaded after their weekend exploits at the Monaghan 10 mile and Groomsport Half, finished side by side in 13th & 14th position both with respectable times of 41:30. Niall Carson, making another come back from injury, finished in 23rd place with a time of 43:59 with Michael Flynn just behind in 26th in 44:32. Martin Duggan was next home in 107th with a time of 55:04.

 

Kerri Valentine ran a fantastic race to finish in 48th place overall and 5th place lady in a time of 47:52. 1st lady home was Mourne Runner’s Lynne Spence in 43:22, with North Down’s Sarah Benton in 2nd and Deirdre Kelly third. In the earlier 5k Junior member Ronan McVeigh was a comfortable winner.

 

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, 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 or the podium, 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.

 

Kieran ‘Miley’ Morgan and ‘DJ Normski’ Smyth, both slighted jaded after their weekend exploits at the Monaghan 10 mile and Groomsport Half, finished side by side in 13th & 14th position both with respectable times of 41:30. Niall Carson, making another come back from injury, finished in 23rd place with a time of 43:59 with Michael Flynn just behind in 26th in 44:32. Martin Duggan was next home in 107th with a time of 55:04.

 

Kerri Valentine ran a fantastic race to finish in 48th place overall and 5th place lady in a time of 47:52. First lady home was Mourne Runner’s Lynne Spence in 43:22, with North Down’s Sarah Benton in second and Deirdre Kelly completing the podium in third. In the earlier 5k, NAC junior member Ronan McVeigh was a comfortable winner, running 19 minutes on a challenging course.

 

 

Not included last week

We begin with an erratum notice to correct the mistake that no Newcastle AC athletes took part in the Lurig Mountain Race. One keen observer, who will remain nameless, but whose name rhymes with Jim Johnston, quickly pointed out that Declan Magee had journeyed to the Glens and had finished 96th in a time of 42:38 – a belated well done to Declan and the ‘good spot’ award to the eagle eyed reader who noted the omission.

On the same weekend and previously unreported, Paulette Thomson and Eugene McCann embarked upon on their very own ‘Trip to Tipp’. The Galtymore Race is the final event in the All-Ireland Championship and one of the toughest events in the IMRA calendar, with 1100m of climb over a distance of 11.5km. The fearless duo summited the peaks of Cush (641m) twice, Galtybeg (799m) twice and Galtymore (917m) just once. Knowing Thomson’s navigating abilities, McCann sacrificed his race to support his fellow club runner. Thomson was 3rd female home in a time of 2.00.48 and McCann in 2.00.56. This was enough for Thomson to secure 2nd Female overall in Irish Championship 2017 – a remarkable achievement.

 

Slieve Bernagh Fell Race

A modest field of 54 completed the Bernagh Mountain race, the latest round of the NIMRA Championship. Newcastle’s David Hicks built on his superb second place in the Seven Sevens with an impressive victory, defeating club mate Zak Hanna in the process. Hanna, who had not raced the previous weekend had built up a commanding lead by the first summit.  However it was the fast descending skills of Hicks that enabled him to close the gap and give him the chance to strike for home on the final descent.  Hanna held on for second, holding off the challenge of Mourne Runners’ David McKee. Perennial mountain goat Pete Grant was a strong 9th and Flynn, McCann (David), Graham, McElroy and Barr came home very close to each other, separated by less than 3 minutes. Dromore’s Diane Wilson was the comfortable winner of the ladies, with more than three and a half minutes to spare over her nearest challenger.

 

Place

Name

Finish Time

Meelbeg Summit

Bearnagh Summit

Bearnagh Bottom

Meelmore Summit

1

David  Hicks

00:47:23

00:17:53

00:31:26

00:34:42

00:42:01

2

Zak Hanna

00:47:58

00:15:51

00:29:09

00:34:10

00:41:05

9

Pete Grant

00:54:15

00:20:27

00:36:20

00:39:38

00:48:39

27

Mickey Flynn

01:03:09

00:22:15

00:40:28

00:45:40

00:56:07

28

David McCann

01:03:15

00:21:09

00:39:59

00:45:56

00:55:24

29

Stephen Graham

01:03:25

00:22:42

00:40:56

00:46:23

00:55:35

30

Declan McElroy

01:03:38

00:22:34

00:41:09

00:46:28

00:56:10

38

Ronan Barr

01:07:21

00:23:34

00:43:27

00:48:45

00:59:04

 

Dambusters

Three Newcastle athletes were among the 581 participants in the various races (5k, 10k and Half Marathon) organised by Born to Run in the picturesque surroundings of the Silent Valley. Ciara Savage ran 24:57 to finish 14th/83, while Gareth McAuley was 5th/280 in the 10k, recording a sub-40 time (39:42). Racing machine Norman Smyth appears to be in a competition with his namesake Mawhinney to see who can complete the most races this summer. Normski is currently on a strict diet of two races per week and followed up his Rathfriland 10k with a 1:32:45 in the Dambusters half Marathon; good enough for 17th place in a field of 218.

 

Conswater 10k and 5k

The weekend of racing was brought to a close with the Conswater 10k and 5k. These were extremely well supported with 433 participants in the 10k and a further 245 opting for the shorter distance of 5k. Sam McNeilly had a very good run in the 5k, clocking 22:35 – good enough for 17th overall and 5th lady.

 

Racing ahead

 

The Laganside 10k will be the focus for many of the NAC athletes in the next two weeks. With the 1300 entry limit almost reached, there will be plenty of racing talent on display on the day as fast times are guaranteed on tis flat loop of the Lagan basin. On the same day, the Ballykinlar 10k offers a fast and rural run on a flat course. The usual suspects will be making their annual pilgrimage to Fort William to compete in the Ben Nevis Fell Race, climbing to the highest point in the UK. The following Tuesday (12 September) is the Mill Hill Mile – entries are now open online at ww.newcastleac.org). Finally, there is much excitement about parkrun coming to Castlewellan with the first event on 23 September.