Spring sees Springwell runners put best feet forward

On Saturday the largest gathering of Springwell RC members could be found at the Bentley 10 Mile Road Race for the first of the season’s events, and no weekend would be complete without at least a sprinkling of parkruns.

Bentley 10 Mile Road Race

Thankfully the weather forecast was wrong, the rain stayed away, and the winds remained light for the sixty-six Springwell RC members who headed to Derry for the Bentley 10 Mile Road Race on Saturday 9th March. Over 1500 runners gathered on the track below Ebrington for the 10:30am start and, after a lap to start proceedings, they were off into the park and onto the greenway along the banks of the Foyle.

The Foyle Bridge would feature in the first half of the race, initially as the field passed under it into the hospital grounds, and then, two miles further on when it presented the most challenging mile of the course, as the race climbed over it to cross the river to the Culmore Road. Determined running by many of the purple vests on this section put them in an ideal position for a fast time as the downhill stretch to the river allowed a quickening of pace and a fast final three miles along the quay, over the Peace Bridge and back to the party atmosphere of St Columbs Park and the finish.

As well as a fantastic sixteen personal bests being recorded, Alison Clarke place second in her age category, as did Jenny Chartres, with Christopher McNickle placing third in his.

Springwell RC - 15th Christopher MCNICKLE 57:04 PB (3rd M35), 57th James WEIR 1:02:48, 77th Aaron STEELE 1:05:09 PB, 78th Ryan KENNEDY 1:05:25, 86th Niall KENNEDY 1:05:54 PB, 131st Darren WALSH 1:09:15, 132nd Jeff YOUNG 1:09:16, 134th Brian Moore 1:08:42 PB, 151st David SHIELS 1:11:12, 172nd Jenny CHARTRES 1:10:31 (2nd FO), 176th Michael JOHNSON 1:12:20, 216th Leisa MCKENNA 1:13:26 PB, 228th Timothy BACON 1:13:58, 236th Catherine PINKERTON 1:14:26, 294th Jonathan MCNABB 1:15:26, 352nd Deborah MCPHEE 1:18:29 PB, 390th Jim BRADLEY 1:19:34 PB, 394th Sylvia POLLOCK 1:19:57, 451st Lynne YOUNG 1:21:45, 452nd Pauline MULLAN 1:21:45, 460th Shane MCLAUGHLIN 1:21:36, 478th Leanne QUIGLEY 1:21:51 PB, 479th Gael BUTCHER 1:20:17, 517th Richard POLLOCK 1:23:31, 528th Michael MCKEOWN 1:23:12, 585th Mervyn THOMPSON 1:24:41, 588th Lydia POLLOCK 1:25:07, 596th Geoff ALLEN 1:23:46, 617th Patricia CRAIG 1:25:24, 619th Bridgeen CANNING 1:25:54, 650th Ashley MCPHEE 1:26:25 PB, 656th Laura-Ann CARMICHAEL 1:25:16 PB, 679th Naomi GORDON 1:25:49 PB, 680th David MCGAFFIN 1:25:55, 820th Janet PATRICK 1:27:59, 829th Gillian RUDDEN 1:30:34 PB, 834th Faith MOORE 1:30:26, 858th Patrick MAGEE 1:28:52, 880th Adam HENDERSON 1:29:32 PB, 891st Kathryn CAMPBELL 1:30:13, 921st Roisin WALKER 1:31:13 PB, 931st Christine BONHAM 1:32:55, 1021st Alan WHITE 1:33:20, 1026th Roberta MCKENZIE 1:34:15, 1027th Alison DUNCAN 1:33:16 PB, 1059th Ryan CAMPBELL 1:34:33, 1073rd Andrew WILMOT 1:34:51, 1149th David HUGHES 1:37:09, 1172nd Rosemary MELLON 1:39:25, 1199th Heather MCLAUGHLIN 1:38:50, 1200th Ingrid HAMILTON 1:38:50 PB, 1218th Pauline DUKE 1:40:22, 1225th Alan PLATT 1:41:55, 1255th Andrew GAULT 1:42:35, 1282nd Majella MCATEER 1:43:18, 1317 Sheila MCCONNELL 1:43:43, 1341st Séamus MCATEER 1:45:48, 1350th Emer THOMPSON 1:45:03 PB, 1371st Linda MCMICHAEL 1:45:39 PB, 1378th Alison CLARKE 1:45:11 (2nd F65), 1419th John MCMICHAEL 1:47:38, 1442nd Anne Marie MCKENNA 1:50:46, 1444th Aimee MILLER 1:49:38, 1449th Nicola WHITE 1:49:42, 1551st Megan TIMMS 2:02:05, 1553rd Colin CONNOLLY 2:04:17.

Spud Run

Falling under the short category (sub 10k), this very popular race begins at the Glenariff community centre at the Oisíns GAC field in Waterfoot village. The six-mile course takes competitors from the field to meet the nearby Ulster Way path directly beside the Glen river for 2 miles (and over a few stiles), before crossing the road to continue steeply on the northern face of the glen 1 mile uphill to the high checkpoint topped at 1200 feet, then turning on a very fast descent back down and onto the trail returning towards the pitch.

While the course favours faster runners the steep descent tests even the most experienced mountain runner. Saturday 9th March saw seven Springwell RC members make the trip into the Antrim Glens to take on this challenging race. Peter Tees was the first member to finish, crossing the line 33td with a time of 53:20. Bernadette Quinn was 50th in 56:35, with Barry Mullan not far behind in 57th in 57:24. Their first experience of mountain running saw Jonny Rowntee finish 80th in 1:03:12 and Gareth McLaughlin 87th in 1:04:49. Carolyn Crawford was 92nd in 1:06:30 and Adele Tomb 94th in 1:06:52.

Parkrun

The attractions of running along the Foyle or scaling the heights of Glenariff saw a reduction in the number of Springers out parkrunning this weekend, but thirty - eight still made an appearance at twelve venues across the country. While there were no personal bests this weekend, it was noted that Patrick Magee and Colin Connolly managed to fit the Derry City Parkrun in as their warmup before the Bentley 10 Mile Road Race.

Bushy - Fergus THOMPSON 23:17

Derry City - Patrick MAGEE 24:25, Reid JACK 25:19, Colin CONNOLLY 30:04, Anne JACK 30:25

Ecos - Liz MCLAUGHLIN 34:12

Portrush - David O'NEILL 19:18, Andy WHITEFORD 19:25, Maurice WALKER 19:47, Rhys WALKER 20:08, Paul LAVERTY 22:54, Cathy ADAMS 23:02, Shaun CARTON 23:14, George BRIEN 23:56, Conor SHIELDS 24:37, Mervyn ADAMS 25:32, Barry MCBRIDE 26:43, Jonathan BECK 28:16, Aisling HYNES 31:01, Amanda SCOTT 32:01, Lorraine ABERNETHY 36:46, Fergal MACKLE 38:59, Deborah PURDY 42:43, Caitriona MACKLE 49:29, Gemma WRAY 52:29, Karen SMITH 55:59

Crane Park - James HUGHES 26:25

Antrim - Monica MCCLENAGHAN 32:41

Castlewellan - Gary KENDALL 24:15

Druridge Bay - Elaine MONTGOMERY 41:11

Limavady - Chris DENTON 17:25, Kevin MCLEAN 22:45, Adrian FINLAY 23:25, Kenneth BACON 43:15

Vandeleur - Catherine BYERS 35:46

Orangefield parkrun - Ali SHAW 33:45

Centennial - Reggie COLVILLE 24:39

Garvagh Forest - Kay HACK 39:30