Race Reports w/e 21st October 2018

A plethora of age category wins in Comber as the cross country season returns, Linda does the same in Davagh as does Gillian over the Mournes!

Comber Cup XC
The Comber Cup, a regular fixture in the Northern Ireland Cross Country League, took place on Saturday at the Billy Neill Playing Fields in Dundonald.

It turned out to be a successful afternoon for Ballymena Runners with a number of athletes claiming age category podium places.

Winning their respective categories were Ben Morrow (M35) and Brigid Quinn (F70), while finishing runners-up were Noel Connor (M55), Judith Worthington (F40) and Rosemary Morrow (F60).

In addition, Paul Connolly, Nigel Davidson, Chris Davies, Scott Fleming, James Galbraith, Pawel Lapinski, Gerry McClintock, Ian McCracken, Jim Moore, Sinead Scullion, Zara Surgenor, Shelley Tomlin and Debbie Watters represented the club at the event.

Fergal's 10 Mile Race
Now in its second year the Fergal's 10-Miler event takes runners through the rural landscape of Davagh Forest and is organised in memory of Fergal Mulgrew who sadly passed away while training in the forest in October 2016.

It proved to be a successful outing for Ballymena Runners with the ladies finishing third in the team competition. Scoring points for the club were Alison Foster, Naomi Hutchinson, Linda Petticrew and Karen Ritchie.

Furthermore, Linda was 10th lady overall as well as winning her age category while Alison finished runner-up in her category.

First to finish for the club was Rodney Agnew in 25th spot overall, followed by Linda then Glenn McGall while also running were Geoff Crawford, Peter Faith, Terry Foley, Nikki Hassan, Andrew Hutchinson, Jonathan Johnston, Stephanie Johnston, Paul McKinley, Thamra Millar and Sarah Woods.

Mourne Skyline Mountain Trail Race
The Mourne Skyline Mountain-Trail Race is a 35k race, incorporating 3,370m (11,057ft) of accumulative ascent, set in the heart of the scenic Mourne Mountains.

Now in it's fifth year, Ballymena Runners were represented at the event by William Fleck, John Hasson, Tim Lowry and Gillian Wasson. Gillian was first over the line for the club, completing in 5:14:12 to finish first lady and topping her age category.

Amongst the other athletes in action this weekend were Jonny Graham who clocked a time of 1:00:33 in the GR8 Dundrum Run, a challenging run on a mixture of road, beach and boardwalk!

Neil Douglas travelled slightly further ahead to record a strong 1:20:09 in the Amsterdam Half Marathon while Sabrina Boyd claimed a new 10k personal best in the Runher event in Belfast on Sunday.

Preparing for action at the Comber Cup on Saturday

Ballymena Runners at the Fergal's 10-Miler in Davagh Forest

[L-R] Tim Lowry, Gillian Wasson, William Fleck and John Hasson at the Mourne Mountain Skyline Trail Race

Gerry McClintock at the Comber Cup

Thumbs up from Geoff Crawford at Davagh Forest