A Red and Yellow Letter Day for Newcastle & District AC at the Ulster & NI Road Relay Championships in Victoria Park

NAC Notes – edited by Bogusboy

The first Saturday in October has become the traditional date for the increasingly popular and highly competitive Ulster & Northern Ireland Road Relays in Victoria Park, Belfast. Newcastle & District AC have been attending them for the past 7 years and David O’Flaherty has competed in all 7 editions and said before the races, “the women won the Championship in each of the last two years, but the men have never made the podium, this year is it’ll be different”. There is nothing like a bit of confidence before taking the line.

The day was a bit blustery with skiffs of showers passing through and the intermittent thunder of an Airbus 320 just after leaving the City Airport runway adding to the dramatic setting at the tented (gazebo) village akin to that witnessed at the Quidditch World Cup Final, where the start and finish of each leg was situated. Large crowds lined the route as the dramatic spectacle unfolded. The relay festival starts with juvenile races and culminates with the signature Master’s, Women’s and Men’s during the afternoon. Each leg is 3,380metres (2.1miles) and takes in two flat laps of the park – it lends itself to a great spectator spectacle and fast times are guaranteed.

 

Master’s Men & Women

Jack O’Hare led out the Master’s Men for the club running a solid leg to come home in 11:46 (5:36 mile pace) and was followed by David McNeilly 11:15 (5:21 pace). Michael McKenna took leg 3 and demonstrated his improving endurance ahead of the Dublin Marathon with 11:57 (5:41 mile pace). On the anchor leg, David Hicks, who has had a couple of great victories recently in races more than 2 hours rather than 2 miles in the mountains this season, scythed through the field with a 10:55 clocking (5:12 pace) to bring the team home in a very respectable 10th place (out of 59 starters).

Kerry O’Flaherty led the team out in the Women’s relay, running away from the field to record 10:47 (5:08 mile pace), a second inside her best over this course set last year, to give the club a 35 second advantage going into leg two. Mari Troeng ran a solid 13:02 in leg two (6:12 mile pace) and Nicky McKeag ran the anchor in a big personal best of 14:09 (6:34 mile pace) to bring the team home in a respectable 6th place. Queen’s University won the race with Banbridge’s Emma Mitchell clocking a new course record for a leg with a stunning 10:21 on the anchor.

 

Men

Eoghan Totten ran a half-marathon personal best of 67:21 in the Great North Run in September and followed it with a road personal best of 30:38 in the Swansea Bay 10k two weeks later. It’s two weeks on and this Saturday saw him toe the line for the 1st leg in the club’s quest to podium for the first time. He failed to disappoint. His main protagonists were Neill Johnston of Springwell (in lifetime best form over 3000m on the track this summer running sub-8:30) and Russell White of Dromore AC (number 1 Irish triathlete who competes in the World Triathlon Series). After 200m Totten hit the front and pushed on remorselessly knowing that his best chance of success was to run the finish out of the others. His bravery paid off, as while Johnston and White pulled away over the final 400m to record 9:29 & 9:31 respectively, Totten came home in 9:35 (4:34 mile pace) in 3rd and 16 seconds faster than he ran last year. The main threats of North Belfast Harriers and City of Derry Spartans were not too far behind in a field of ‘stacked’ teams, all capable of winning.

 

Totten handed over to David O’Flaherty who is also building towards the Lanzarote Half-Marathon in December. O’Flaherty has been putting in more miles than ever before and he looked controlled as he ran an even-paced leg to rein in Dromore AC and almost catch Springwell, recording 9:59 (4:45 mile pace). Next up was 18-year-old Patrick McNiff, who caught Springwell to put the team in the lead for the first time and started to pull away in front. McNiff is a great natural talent and a welcome new edition to the club over the summer. While he lives and goes to school in Banbridge he has strong connections with the town where his father, uncles and aunt all grew up. McNiff too ran a sensibly paced leg to record 10:05 (4:48 mile pace) and hand over to Zak Hanna who took off with a 15 second lead.

Hanna hails from the slopes of Slieve Croob and had a brilliant summer on the mountains wining the Classic Slieve Donard Race and gaining international vests at both the European and World Mountain Racing Championships at each end of July. A novice to ‘flatter’ running, he has untapped talent, but he wouldn’t be finding any hills in Victoria Park. Hanna too has been learning the art of pace control and his club mates looked on as he paced the stat/finish area after lap one wondering had he gone out a little slow? North Belfast’s Mark McKinstry, himself in a rich vein of form had started 24 seconds behind Hanna and by the end of lap one the gap had dropped to below 10 seconds behind him. With 500m to go the gap was down to just one second. Hanna is just the man anyone would want to anchor a relay as he is very competitive and never gives up. Swimming in lactic acid he kicked hard and his face was wracked with pain but he edged away as the finish line approached, coming home with three seconds to spare, despite the valiant efforts of McKinstry to rein him in.

What a victory for the men in red & yellow – an Ulster & NI Relay title for the men to add to that of the women from 2015 & 2016 and to add to the men’s National Cross-Country title from 2016 also. For the record Hanna’s time was 10:09 (4:50 mile pace).

Backing up the team’s victory in 25th place were the ‘B’ team led out by Paul Byrne in 11:44 (5:35 mile pace) – “I never knew that just under 12 minutes of running could hurt so much”. Byrne handed over to Michael McKenna – “I enjoy hurting so much, that I did it twice in the one afternoon” – who ran 12:16 (5:50 miles pace) and in turn passed on to Patrick “I’m not fussed on running but I’m here anyway, so I’ll hurt for the team” Higgins who then proceeded to run a solid 11:30 (sub 5:30 mile pace) re-finding his ability to run through the pain barrier as the Dublin Marathon beckons. On the anchor and glory leg was Ronnie Horrox. Horrox is known for his fast twitch fibres and as he approaches his half century (ok, it’s a while away yet) he still has a fair turn of speed. However, he is also a masochist and that’s why he ‘loves’ the marathon training despite the low prevalence of slow twitch fibres in his legs. Horrox has big heart and he ground out a good leg in 13:34 (6:28 pace) and soon after he recovered his breath he told anyone who would listen (and even those who wouldn’t) back at the team gazebo how easy he felt during that 14 minutes.

Congratulations to all on a historic day for the club, now in its 37th year since it was founded in April 1981.

 

The Armagh 10 – the race that is never mentioned

The dust had barely settled in Victoria Park Belfast when Eoghan Totten made the most of his weekend visit home to Newcastle by travelling to the ecclesiastical capital for the Armagh 10 Mile Road Race, starting and finishing at the Navan Fort Visitor Centre. It’s famous, one, because it is ‘one of those classic 10 miles road races’ and two, it is a rite of passage for any wannabe marathon runner in the club to hear first-hand from one the club stalwarts, the finer details of his 55 minute PB run a few (now 13!) years ago.

The course is not like Victoria Park in Belfast, it is hilly… in fact there is little flat in it, it is probably best described as a bit more than undulating. The course record is a fine one by St Malachy AC’s Joe McAlister – 50:11. Totten did like he did the day before – he set an honest pace and this time is was to be sustained for 5 times longer than 24 hours earlier. His main rival was (probably) pre-race favourite Paddy Hamilton of Slieve Gullion Runners, who despite returning from recent injury is getting back into good form.

Totten pushed and pushed and gradually edged away from Hamilton reaching 5 miles in 24:58. He never relented and came home around a minute clear in a new Personal Best in 50:30. This is Totten’s third PB in 4 weeks, the earlier times documented above. Totten’s medium term attention will now turn to a debut marathon in London next April.

Also in the race for the club were Francis Tumelty running an excellent 61:35, running into excellent form for the upcoming cross-country season, Gerdie (GMAC) McAuley running a big personal best of 65:56 and ‘local’ Bob Brown coming home in around 70 minutes (official times to be confirmed). The 4 combined for a highly commendable 2nd team behind hosts Armagh AC.

 

Berlin 10k

On the same day Jim Johnston made his annual visit to East Berlin, defecting briefly over to West Berlin to run the Great Berlin 10k from the stunning 18th century Prussian Charlottenburg Palace. Jim was happy with his time of 47.50, considering the amount of King Ludwig Swartz Bier consumed in days before the race – ideal preparation. Some guy called Bekele might have been 20 mins ahead of Jim and puts his really fast time down to the fear instilled by the prospect of Johnston sailing past at any moment.

 

Killeavey 10k

A little closer to home, Newcastle’s Sinead Murtagh was the convincing winner of the Ladies’ race Killeavey Classic 10k, just outside Newry in County Armagh. Murtagh roared home in 41:30; impressive on a hilly course and for a lady who was in the delivery room 6 months ago! Sinead has been honing her racing technique by powering around the Castlewellan parkrun each Saturday with Baby Saoirse in the ‘Trotteresque’ three wheeler, showing both great leg speed and outstanding manual dexterity in swerving around her fellow participants! In the men’s race, David Hicks, fresh from his blast around Victoria Park the day before finished 3rd male in an impressive 35:19. A little further back, Stephen McNally had a fine run, dipping under the 40 minute barrier (39:44).

 

XC Season begins

Next week is a busy one locally with the ever-popular GR8 in Dundrum. Massive crowds are expected for the race that really has a bit of everything thrown in – let’s hope the sand is firm!!! On the Same day, the Billy Neil Playing Fields, just outside Comber will be the venue for the Comber Cup, the opening event of the 2017-2018 Cross Country seasons – a series that NAC have excelled in in the last three years under the leadership of David McNeilly and more recently David O’Flaherty.