BRAC compete in Cookstown!
5 Ballymena Runners headed to the MUSA Cookstown for the Irwin Spiers XC, last race of season in XC league on a cold but dry day.
Conditions above head were ideal but under foot the total opposite, on a course which Ray Curran describes as proper XC, first up was the Male Vets 60 race (3 miles) and Paddy Millar 23.54 was 1st home and he was closely followed by Thomas Bradley 24.24, next up was the Male Open race (4 miles) with Club Captain Robert Clyde 28.54 1st home, followed by Denver Robb 30.06 who was closely followed by John Donnelly 30.19.
A big thank you to Acorns AC for a very well organised event at the 3rd time of asking due to the adverse weather conditions before Christmas and end of January
Armagh International Road Races!
On Thursday evening, the Armagh International Road Races took place, an annual event held each February.
The race featured both the men's and women’s 3K races, as well as the prestigious elite 5K event.
This year’s race was filled with remarkable talent, with the winner from the USA crossing the finish line in 13:33. Impressively, 152 runners finished the international men’s 5K in under 15 minutes!
A group of Ballymena Runners, including a busload and a few cars, made the long journey to compete. Despite the bitterly cold, dry conditions, the weather proved ideal for racing.
The women’s 3K race kicked off at 8:10 PM, with Ballymena's Katie Agnew leading the charge, finishing first for the club in 11:06. She was followed by first-timer of the course, Cherith Wright with a PB 11:20, and then Gemma Clyde also with a PB 14:08
At 8:55 PM, the men’s 3K race began. Sean Hasson was the first Ballymena runner to cross the line in a time of 9:38 PB closely followed by Daniel Hanna, also finishing in 9:38 PB.
Tony Scullion put in a strong performance with 9.50 while Dale Kirwood set a personal best, improving his time by an impressive 23 seconds 10.02.
These four runners secured an excellent eigth-place team finish out of nineteen.
Joshua Blair followed with a 30-second personal best from the same race last year, crossing the line in 10:07. Ian McCracken finished in 10:19 a PB for him while Conor Lynnes, competing in his first race other than a marathon, in 10:29 PB Cian Young clocked 11:02 PB, Mark McCaul 11:05 PB, Robert Clyde 11:10, Denver Robb 11:39 PB and John Donnelly 12:05.
A huge congratulations to all the Ballymena Runners who took part and represented the club so well.
Ballymena Belles - 75% of places already sold
Over 75% of entries for the Ballymena Belles race have been snapped up. This is a great 5 mile ladies only road race with the famous Ballymena Runners Big Feed afterwards. All the information is on the Ballymena Belles page - don’t miss out and book your place now….