Sun Shines on Fairhill Five

Sun Shines on Fairhill Five

Last Wednesday evening saw Ballymena Runners host one of their main events of the year, the now annual Fairhill Five Mile Road Race. On a route around the town centre streets the event was held in warm and sunny conditions which might have made for a great evening for the hundreds of spectators gathered to watch the spectacle, but it was not as comfortable for the assembled field of runners. 

There were almost four hundred runners taking part in the main five mile event with another hundred tackling the supporting 2.5 mile fun run. 

On Wednesday 1st June 2016, nearly four hundred competitors took to the start line of the annual Fairhill 5 mile road race in Ballymena, a well-organised event hosted by Ballymena Runners.   

In warm sunny conditions the field set off on a reasonably flat and fast two lap route, starting and finishing in the Town Centre.   

From the early stages of the race it looked as if the winner would only come from two athletes who led the main field, Scott Rankin of Foyle Valley and local man Mark McKinstry representing North Belfast Harriers. The pair went shoulder to shoulder to the first half of the race but it was Rankin who made the break just over the half way mark, forging ahead to cross the line as winner in 25 mins 1 secs with McKinstry holding o to second spot in 25 mins 34 secs, repeating his finishing from the 2015 race but considerably faster this time round. The pair finished well ahead of 3rd and 4th placed runners Acorn’s Darrell McKee and Kyle Doherty, city of Derry.

In the ladies proceedings there was local interest with Ballymena and Antrim athlete Pauline Thom in the lead group for the first half of the race. In similar form as the men’s race the decisive move was made in the second half of the race with Thom making a break to reel in Jodi Smith of North Down to win in 30 mins 38 secs with Smith having to settle for second spot in 31 mins 1 secs.

In the associated 2.5 mile race, there were some glittering performances from some up and coming stars.  Luke Kelly (North Belfast Harriers) led the field home in 1st place, while young Sophie McCluney (Club Unknown) took 1st place in the ladies race.

With Ballymena Runners obviously heavily committed to organisational and marshalling duties the main challenge came through Michael Bennett who managed a top ten finish in 8th overall in 27 mins 57 secs with Richard Agnew next in 28 mins 8 secs in 11th overall with the pair 2nd and 3rd in the MV40 category. Richard’s brother Rodney was next winning his age category in 30 mins 19 secs in 27th spot. First home for the Ballymena Ladies was Judith Worthington in 35 mins 37 secs.

Full Club times and placings as listed;

8, Michael , Bennett, 00:27:57, 11, Richard, Agnew, 00:28:08, 27, Rodney, Agnew, 00:30:19, 36, Rick, Hill, 00:31:18, 43, Nigel, McClintock, 00:32:00, 48, Rodney, Livingstone, 00:32:21, 50, Nicholas, Read, 00:32:15, 66, David, Hamilton, 00:33:19, 67, Derek, Agnew, 00:33:14, 68, John, Donnelly, 00:33:24, 70, Daniel, McClelland, 00:33:26, 75, Colin, Hoey, 00:34:08, 76, John, McClelland, 00:34:06, 81, Kevin, Duffin, 00:34:20, 92, Judith, Worthington, :35:37, 109, Fintan, Neeson, 00:36:27, 113, David, Nicholson, 00:36:40, 129, Chris, Magill, 00:37:37, 138, Alastair, Donaghy, 00:37:56, 143, Dr Julian, Kennedy, 00:37:59, 149, John, Neeson, 00:38:31, 161, Tony, Patterson, 00:38:26, 171, Moyra, McKinley, 00:39:07, 201, Karen, Purvis, 00:40:40, 205, Karen, McCaughey, 00:40:58, 213, Nigel, Davison, 00:41:37, 215, Pascal, O'Sullivan, 00:41:49, 227, Tara, Agnew, 00:42:44, 232, Marion, Connon, 00:42:57, 237, Kelly, Courtney, 00:43:19, 242, Geoffrey, McClean, 00:43:21, 244, Brigid, Quinn, :43:52, 250, Deborah, Kerr, 00:43:58, 274, Cathy, Boyd, 00:45:18, 276, Ann, Erwin, 00:45:28, 277, Karen, Hunter, 00:45:28, 280, Harry, Armstrong, 00:45:20, 284, Sinead, Scullion, 00:45:31, 286, Helen, Beattie, 00:46:10, 291, James, Galbraith, 00:46:43, 294, Patricia, MacRory, 00:46:48, 295, Joanne, Brown Kerr, 00:47:01, 296, Heather, Steele, 00:47:03, 307, Wendy, Moore, 00:48:16, 308, Derek, Power, 00:48:16, 309, Heather, Birrell, 00:48:11, 320, Laura, Hillis, 00:49:37, 321, Mary, Duffin, 00:49:36, 322, Iris, McDowell, 00:49:47, 323, Stacey, McGerty, 00:50:16, 324, Yvette, McClean, 00:50:17, 325, John, McGerty, 00:50:17, 329, Gillian, Kernohan, 00:49:56, 338, Rhonda, Morris, 00:50:43, 339, Sonia, Gormley, 00:51:29, 340, Linda, Livingstone, 00:51:29, 343, Sam, McIlwaine, 00:52:29, 345, Helen, Drummond, 00:52:43, 349, Lynn, Tennant, 00:53:18, 350, Bernie, Drain, 00:53:21, 355, Kate, Dempsey, 00:53:54, 357, Christine, Knox, 00:54:21, 359, Helen, Cavan, 00:55:03, 360, Lauren, McClintock, 00:54:43, 361, Helen, Stevenson, 00:55:12, 364, Stephanie, Read, 00:56:04, 369, Maria, McKeown, 00:59:19, 371, Emma, McWilliams, 01:02:25, 

SECOND TRAIL SERIES WIN FOR KERRY

SECOND TRAIL SERIES WIN FOR KERRY

The week started off well for the club with Kerry Bamber in top form once again when she won the second race of the East Antrim Harriers popular Trail race Series on Tuesday evening. Ballymena Runners took the opportunity to race close to their home base with the second race in the series held out at Tardree Forest.

The Ballymena club had a great turn out with around 30 members making up the 200 strong entry on what was a sunny warm night in the local forest. The course itself was over a 5k route with some steep climbs incorporated along the way.

Kerry led the ladies race home with a win in 21 mins 10 secs around 30 secs ahead of nearest rival, Larne’s Patricia Blair in 21:49 with Orangegrove athlete Trudy Brown 3rd in 22:41.

First home for the club overall was Matthew Morrow in 8th spot in 18:55, with Alex Brennan also in the top ten in 1oth spot in 19 mins 12 secs.

Overall winners were; Mens; 1st Paul Horan (North Belfast Harriers) – 18:07, 2nd James Trainor (Dub Runners) – 18:14, 3rd Nigel Kelly (Ballydrain Harriers) – 18:29. Ladies:  1st Kerry Bamber (Ballymena Runners) – 21:10, 2nd Patricia Blair (Larne AC) – 21:49, 3rd Trudy Brown (Orangegrove AC) - 22:41.

Full List of Ballymena Runners times and placing as follows; 

8, 700, Matthew Morrow, 18:55, 10, Alex Brennan, 19:12, 17,Jack McKenna, 20:12, 27, Pawel Lapinski, 21:02, 29, Kerry Bamber, 21:10, 30, Nigel McClintock, 21:13, 34,  Derek Agnew, 21:47, 39, Tom Mills, 21:57, 41, Daire Hasson, 22:13, 42, John Donnelly, 22:13, 44, Colin Hoey, 22:32, 59, Alastair Donaghy, 23:43, 60, James Butler, 23:48, 64, Judith Worthington, 24:02, 86, William Dunseath, 25:23, 91,  Susanna Allen, 25:37, 93, John Neeson, 25:50, 96, Helen McCormack, 26:02, 119, Noleen Ervine, 27:10, 125, Shelley Tomlins, 27:20, 134, Lynne McFetridge, 28:06, 137, Danny Jamieson, 28:17.5, 143, Robin Alexander, 28:37, 149, Emma Donnelly, 29:04, 159, Beverly Kidd, 29:52, 160, Adrian Dodds, 29:59, 162, Helen Beattie, 30:39, 164, Paula Lorimer, 30:55, 174, S McFall, 32:20, 176, Hannah Soar, 32:34, 182, Lilian Quigley, 34:36.

Mayfair 10K Road race

On Saturday the action switched back to the roads withBallyclare based club County Antrim Harriers hosting the second annual running of their much anticipated Mayfair 10k road race.

There were a record number of athletes competing win almost 300 finishers in the main 10K event and another 150 running in the supporting 5K event.  

 Ballymena Runners had seven members competing led home by Jim Moore, 22nd, 38:59, Rick Hill, 27th, 40:23, Nigel McClintock, 31st, 41:32, Mark Kelly, 69th, 46:15, David Nicholson, 72nd, 46:45, Roy White, 137th, 51:39, and Adrian Dodds, 196th, 56:30.

Overall winners were, Men:  1st Dan Tanui (Project Africa Athletics) – 30:30, 2nd Eric Koech (Project Africa Athletics) – 31:21, 3rd James Trainor (Dub Runners) – 35:30, Ladies:   1st Heather Foley (Unattached) – 36:51, 2nd Jodi Smith (North Down AC) – 38:57, 3rd Debbie Matchett (Ballydrain Harriers) – 39:37

Donard Race - Hill and Dale Series

Also on Saturday the popular Hill and dale race serried moved off it’s usual Thursday night slot to be held on Saturday with the famous Donard Hill race now in it’s 71st year.

The Donard race was race number 7 of the series and saw another great turn out with over 200 competitors which sees the runners climb to the top of Slieve Donard before turning and heading down the fast descent back to the finish line. The race distance is approximate 5.5 miles with 2,800 feet of climbing. 

Alex Brennan was the first home well up the field finishing in 11th spot overall in 63 mins 17 secs. Paula McAllister also impressed when she won her age category and was 9th lady overall.

 Ballymena Runners Times as listed;

11, Alex Brennan, 01:03:17, 17, Connor Reid, 01:06:23, 31, Jonathan McCloy, , 1:08:33, 53, Mark Alexander, 01:14:02, 115, Paula McAllister, 01:26:28, 171, Alastair Donaghy, 01:43:45, 175, Ruth Aiken, 01:45:38, 198, Kathryn Grant, 02:00:39