‘Race Over The Glens’ 2022!
The reigning ‘King of the Glens’ Zak Hanna (Newcastle AC) retained his title, leading from the start and finishing the course in 34:35. Zak Hanna was in an league of his own on the steps and finished 90 seconds ahead!
Race winner Zak Hanna
Stephen Connolly (Annadale Striders) finished second in a time of 36:09. In third place was ten times race winner Jarlath Falls (Ballymena & Antrim AC) in a time of 36:38, closely followed by Jonny Steede (Glens Runners) finishing in 37:54.
The first finisher from the host club Ballymena Runners was Ben Morrow finishing in 40:43.
Ben Morrow
In the women’s race, Martsje Hell (North Belfast Harriers) finished first in a time of 45:06 to reclaim the title of ‘Queen of the Glens’ which she last won in 2017.
Martsje was followed by Ballymena Runners’ Kerry Bamber who finished second in 45:56. In third place was Paula McCarthy (Glens Runners) who finished in 47:04.
There was a tight competition in the team events with East Antrim Harriers narrowly defeating Newcastle AC in the men’s team event with Glens Runners winning the women’s team event.
Ali Donaghy with the East Antrim Harriers team
There was a great buzz in the finish area, thanks to the work of the Marshalls there who also did so much to keep the event socially distanced without being unpleasant.
The team who invented and implemented a process to give out the awards (and get great photos) in real time were superb. It was an ambitious objective, but worthwhile, and the winners felt appreciated and recognised so much more than with a ‘cheque in the post’.
Ballymena Runners worked hard to ensure that the event was both enjoyable for runners and spectators, and safe (in compliance with appropriate covid regulations).
Runners snaking their way along the course - look closely!
We are grateful for the hard work done by Mat Allen as Race Director, and Aidy Dodds as Course Director, and their support team.
Aidy Dodds with our brilliant volunteer marshalls
We have had great feedback about the course, the work of the set up team yesterday was first class, and special thanks to Robin for his early morning ‘burn off the booze’ check this morning after a windy night. The marshalling out on the course was great, encouragement and direction, was much appreciated.
We want to thank all our club members who stepped up to help set up the course (in particular Robin Alexander), helped managing the car park, registration, marshalling the course and clearing up afterwards – as well as Paddy Millar our tail runner.
In particular we want to thank our hard working registration team – Bernie Duffin, Sarah Dempster, Bronagh Dempster, Nikki Hassan and Laura McMullan. They did a fantastic job to get all the numbers distributed by 11-45, so we were able to start right on time. We did get a lot of ‘no shows’ on the day unfortunately – and we hope that if its COVID, it passes them by gently.
Thanks also to Ewan ‘the piper’, Ambutran, Raynet, Pat McGerity (elite timing), David McKibben for race commentary, and Connolly’s Spar for providing the water.
Thanks to Kathleen and her team at the Glenariff tea rooms for post-race refreshments – the unused food was donated to local groups and families in the wider Ballymena area through our club partnership with Ballymena Foodbank.
Our chosen charity this year was Air Ambulance NI – thank you for your generosity. We raised over £900 to support this great cause.
Thanks again everyone . . . Ballymena Runners - some club!
Well done to everyone who completed the course. Here’s a list of provisional results. If there are any changes we will update asap.
Pictures and more information can be found on the Ballymena Runners Facebook page.