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With the Belfast Marathon on the agenda next Sunday many of Springwell RC’s members were making their final preparations with final long training runs before resting their legs for the 26.2 miles around the city. There was still some racing to be had, with the mountain goats in action at the Hill & Dale series in the Mournes, and a solitary purple vest on a trip to the Hamburg Marathon, and of course there was the usual collection of parkruns.

Hill & Dale Series - Race 3 - Slieve Martin

Springwell RC had its strongest showing of the 2024 Hill & Dale series on Thursday 25th April at Slieve Martin in Rostrevor where a field of over 300 runners arrived to take on this challenging course.

The course was a long, leg sapping climb of 1700ft over 2 miles, a quick look up to admire the view followed by a fast leg numbing, tooth loosening descent down the mountain over grass, mud, rocks & hard pack trail and into the forest where traction was at a premium as things got slippery underfoot, before the return to Kilbroney and the 'sprint' finish!

Peter Tees was the first Springwell RC member home in 18th in a time of 42:22, Bernadette Quinn was next in 97th place with 50:05, Adele Tombe was in a few minutes later in 176th (3rd FV50) with 56:12, closely followed by Carolyn Crawford in 205th with 58:23. Next, it was close between Sarah Milligan & Conor Duffy with Conor getting in in 250th with 1:04:04 & Sarah in 253rd with a time of 1:04:41.

Hapsa Hamburg Marathon

Sunday 28th April saw over 12,000 runners take to the streets of Hamburg in cool, calm weather for the 2024 Marathon. Among the masses was a solitary Springwell RC member with America Aznar sporting the colours at this popular event as she added another strong run to an already impressive marathon CV. Finishing with a time of 3:19:38 to finish 1311th America claimed third place in the F50 age category.

Parkrun

This weekend saw sixty -six Springers parkrunning at twelve different venues with three personal bests recorded. Julie Corbett recorded hers at Ecos parkrun, Liz McLaughlin went multi terrain for hers at Limepark Playing Fields parkrun, and Gael Butcher marked a trip to Fermanagh with a personal best at Enniskillen parkrun. The full moon this weekend brought a spring tide to Portrush parkrun, so there wasn't much beach to run on, and what was there was soft, making arduous work for everyone taking part.

Thanks to everyone who gave so freely of their time to make parkrun happen, your efforts are appreciated.

Belfast Victoria - Aaron STEELE 18:20

Ecos - Julie CORBETT 29:34 PB, Marlyn MUNNIS 35:43, Kenneth BACON 43:17

Queen’s - Barry MCBRIDE 28:39

Portrush - David O'NEILL 21:09, Maurice WALKER 21:36, Ali SHAW 21:38, Rhys WALKER 21:46, Cathy ADAMS 24:08, Fiona MARTIN 26:05, Reid JACK 26:44, Jonno JOHNSON 26:51, Mervyn THOMPSON 26:57, Gillian RUDDEN 27:52, Patricia CRAIG 28:15, Andrew WILMOT 29:33, Alanna MILLAR 29:38, Heather SPENCE 29:46, Shaun CARTON 29:47, Andrew WILSON 31:52, Colin CONNOLLY 32:02, Aisling HYNES 32:47, Anne JACK 33:32, Patrick MAGEE 33:37, Amanda SCOTT 33:39, George BRIEN 33:43, Fergal MACKLE 35:34, Iris WILSON 39:21, Lorraine ABERNETHY 39:33, Caoimhe QUINN 39:46, Caitriona MACKLE 45:07, Deborah PURDY 45:45, Emer THOMPSON 54:27, Elaine MONTGOMERY 1:05:46

Enniskillen - Adrian FINLAY 23:12, Gael BUTCHER 25:07 PB, Alan WHITE 26:04, Alison C DUNCAN 26:07, Sinead GRAHAM 27:06, Ingrid HAMILTON 30:03, Nicola WHITE 31:49, John MCMICHAEL 32:14, Linda MC MICHAEL 32:14, Katrina ADAMS 45:01, Heather MCLAUGHLIN 49:55

Tymon - Michael MULVENNA 24:39, Mariette MULVENNA 28:07

Springwell RC at the Enniskillen Parkrun

Limavady - Chris DENTON 17:37, Ryan KENNEDY 18:58, John BUTCHER 20:28, Catherine PINKERTON 22:20, Brian MOORE 22:22, Pauline MULLAN 23:14, Janet PATRICK 26:33, Alan PLATT 28:56, Alan STEEN 33:40

Carlow Town - Catherine BYERS 33:42

Sixmilewater - Bernie HANNIGAN 29:13

Knockbracken Reservoir - Gary KENDALL 22:50, Kay HACK 37:00

Garvagh Forest - Majella MCATEER 25:24

Limepark Playing Fields - Fiona PRUE 21:15, Paul LAVERTY 22:55, Rhona LAVERTY 33:57, Liz MCLAUGHLIN 34:58 PB

Springwell Running Club - Press Release – 28th April 2024