There was no rest for Ballymena Runners athletes over the holiday period. The club was represented on the world stage, conquered the highest peaks in Europe and mastered the recent Northern Ireland Track & Field Championships!
World Para Athletics Championships
Ballymena Runners' track star James Hamilton is competing in London in the World Para Athletics Championships at the former Olympic Stadium.
You can catch James tonight (Monday 17th) in the T20 1500m Final at 9:05pm on Channel 4. He follows that on Friday 21st with the 800m, and is currently booked to run in Heat 1 at 8:13pm with the final scheduled for the following evening (8:30pm).
James warmed up for the Championships with a solid two minutes over 800m at the Belfast International earlier this month, following it by smashing through the four-minute barrier (3:59.92) a few days later at the BMC Loughborough track meet.
Good luck, James, from everyone at the club!
Mark Alexander
Ballymena Runners' very own 'mountain goat' was in action at the weekend when he travelled to the Alps to take on the challenge of Mont Blanc, the highest peak in western Europe.
Competing in the 31st Montée du Nid d'Aigle (Rise of Eagle Nest), Mark covered the challenging the 20k 2,000 metre uphill mountain race in 2:54:11, improving upon his performance at the same event last year. Well done Mark!
Snowdon International Mountain Race
Connor Reid competed in the 42nd annual running of the prestigious Snowdon International Mountain Race in Wales on Saturday.
A member of the eight-strong Northern Ireland team, Connor covered the 16km distance in 1:26:07, finishing 84th overall against top quality opposition.
Northern Ireland Masters Track & Field Championships
The Northern Ireland Masters Track Championships took place in glorious weather at the famous Mary Peters Track in Belfast.
Ballymena Runners were well represented, picking up a superb haul of nine medals amongst the various categories.
Rosemary Morrow kicked off a successful meeting for the club with silver in the 800m. This was followed by four members contesting a fast 5000m race with Ben Morrow running a time of 16:06 to claim bronze in his age group.
Noel Connor took the M55 gold in 18 minutes with Seamus Kelly gaining the M40 bronze with a time of 18:28 although, unfortunately, Ollie Bateson had to withdraw due to an Achilles injury.
Over 1500 metres both Geraldine Quigley and Ray Curran won silver medals while Shelley Tomlins took a surprise gold over 200m having decided to compete at the last minute!
Our field event athlete Julian Kennedy also had a good day winning medals in Discus and Shot.
Great Rossa Run Half Marathon & 10k
A healthy contingent from Ballymena Runners made their way to Ardboe for the annual Great Rossa Run.
John Robinson was first home in the Half Marathon, finishing 12th overall (1:26:10) with Ian McCracken (1:28:14) and John Hasson (1:29:24) following soon after, all within the top 20.
In the 10k event, Joseph McDermott headed up the Ballymena finishers in 23rd spot overall with a time of 41:44. Aine Hasson was next over the line (48:43), followed by Chris Magill (49:15), Sandy McDermott (49:17), David Nicholson (53:31) and Brigid Quinn (58:06).
Congratulations to Brigid, 2nd in the F60 category, while Chris picked up third spot in the male equivalent.
