Ballymena Belles makes donation to local Women’s Aid charity
In the current climate many charities are finding things difficult. Naomi Hutchinson, was the Ballymena Belles Race Director for 2020, and was delighted to call in with Karen at our local Women’s Aid to share the fantastic news that Ballymena Runners were able to make a donation of £1050 from their Ballymena Belles 2020 Virtual Run. Thank you to all who supported our fundraising!
Naomi Hutchinson with Karen from Women’s Aid
Record week for (not) Parkrun
Ecos parkrun and Ballymena Runners AC continue to encourage park- runners to log their time for a 5k run or walk each week as a ‘(not)parkrun’.
The week ending 15 November saw our highest number since (not) parkrun launched in June. Runs or walks can take place anywhere, and at any time, during the week so long as they are done in a way that meets ‘social distancing’ Covid-19 rules and is safe for everyone. Anyone can join in and details of how to do so can be found at www.parkrun.org.uk/notparkrun/
This week we welcomed first time Ecos ‘(not)parkrunners’ Iris McDowell, Kerry Moore, Aileen Wade, Victoria Ratner, Helen Cavan, Paschal O’Sullivan and Rodney Livingstone.
Some of our runners are especially keen include David McKean who has logged 42 runs, an average of two each week, with Mark Osmer completing 29, and Sam Gordon and Mandy Gregg 23 apiece.
Iris McDowell, David McKean and Kieran Scullion.
Congratulations also to Lorraine Craig, Stephen Tuff, Francis McGuigan, Peter Hamilton and Kieran Scullion who set ‘(not)parkrun’ PBs (personal best times). These PBs are harder won when you don’t have the support of a normal parkrun crowd so well done!
Kieran Scullion even took 17 seconds off his all-time parkrun PB logging 17:00 minutes as the fastest male, and Mandy Gregg was the fastest female in 26:10.
It looks like there are several more all-time PBs to come, and it is great to see that all the socially distanced training is paying off. More important than times though is getting out and enjoying your runs.
Gemma Moore completes 50 Miler for Love, Hope and Faith
Unbelievable determination by Ballymena Runners club member, Gemma Moore, who joined 26 other walkers to complete two marathons back to back! Gemma started the 50 mile walk at 6:30am on Sunday morning. The charity fundraiser was for the local charity Love, Hope and Faith .
Gemma Moore setting off on her 50 mile walk.