Let’s look back at Larne in 2018 over the jump!

2020 Update
With no events for us mere mortals this past week, it’s time for another Retro Roundup! With all local running eyes firmly set on Larne this past weekend, it is only right that we delve back into the archives and a look at some of our efforts around the town. Good news, I have been offered a job teaching poetry in a local prison, I just ned to weigh up all the prose and cons now. Let’s go back in time:

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Warmup
With a return to the good weather, meant a return to racing form this week for the Dubbers. Some impressive running happened over the last seven days – this extra long winter might just have paid dividends for our training! Driving back from Larne at the weekend I got pulled over. He asked if I had a police record – apparently “Roxanne” wasn’t the answer he wanted to hear.  Now then, take a deep, deep breath – let’s go!

Queen’s 5k
You know it is getting near springtime when the Queen’s 5k rolls around. The mostly flat and very fast two and three quarters loop around Lagan is always hotly contested – and always produces a great showing from the Dubs. King’s Bridge up to Ormeau Bridge is the loop and in ideal conditions on Wednesday evening we had six and a half Dubbers taking part:

Pos	Name	Time	Notes
44	James Trainor	00:16:31	Ran in yellow!
59	Richard Conn	00:16:43	---
134	Peter Morrison	00:18:03	---
246	Daniel Mourenza	00:19:49	---
272	Neil Hanley	00:20:19	---
344	Suzanne Kennedy	00:21:45	---
418	Amanda Robinson	00:22:59	---

This one is never easy, and but always one with a chance of posting a great time – and that is exactly what everyone did! Richard lead the field home (despite a minor mishap of entering the 3k race and missing it), with every club member coming in under a mighty impressive 23 minutes! Give yourselves a pat on the back for that one – great work on a weekday evening! Let’s not forget the Dub cheerleading squad of Alex, Brian D, Claire, Paul and Ronan who were there, and were able to take a few photos:

Washingbay Green Run
Forget about Summerbay – this increasingly popular race is on in Washingbay! For those who don’t know (well, I didn’t), Washingbay is just beside Coalisland, near Dungannon. With a massive half on a short distance away, this smaller 13.1 mile course is a loop with hills at 4, 5 and 6 miles then becomes very undulating from 9 miles to the finish. Not the easiest course, but in ideal conditions, we had one Dub on the start line:

Pos	Name	Time	Notes
22	Aine Hughes	01:34:50	---

Nice running Aine – that final half of the course must have been torture! An impressive performance, not just finishing in 13th place, but also first on the female podium too podium! A great day’s effort – sadly I couldn’t find any photos, but I did find one of the medal:

Fallows
While a good contingent of Dubs made their way to Larne, another club member was going in the completely opposite direction! For a change Kilbroney Park hosted the latest championship mountain race – with a steep climb for the first two miles to Slievemeen across to Slievemartin, a short reprieve downhill for three miles. Back to the top of Slievemeen before making a bolt for the line. Let’s see which Pocket Rocket made the trip:

Pos	Name	Time	Notes
51	Bernadette O'Kane	01:43:20	---

Amazing running Bernie – it might have been a little warmer than usual at ground level – but I’ll bet there was a bit of chill at the peaks, adding to the excitement of the race. On paper, nine miles doesn’t sound too tough but with an elevation change of over 2,500ft this will sort the goats from the Dubs! There’s a lack of photos from the event, but I did find one:

Larne Half Marathon
For a refreshing change we had a club day out where the weather held up! The satnavs were primed and ready to take an Errigle of Dubs to Larne for their fabled half marathon race! The course takes in Larne town before heading out along the coast, before a turning left for a hilly mid-section, before a freewheel downhill back along the coast – once final rise at 12 miles before a flat push to the finish. Let’s see who was there:

Pos	Name	Time	Notes
15	Niall Porter	01:17:24	---
75	Steven Todd	01:24:49	New PB!
87	Andy Love	01:25:40	New PB!
109	Brian Derby	01:26:54	---
116	Collette McCourt	01:27:52	New PB!
288	Heather Baron	01:37:14	---
315	Jim Larkin	01:38:15	---
316	Ronan O'Flaherty	01:38:16	New PB!
330	Kate Moffett	01:38:40	---
449	Anne Gribbin	01:42:38	---
624	Hazel McBarron	01:46:56	---
761	Danielle Corey	01:51:02	New PB!
1596	Angela Matthews	02:19:06	---
1867	Alison Crawford	02:44:39	---

What a cracking day for a race, especially after our extended Winter that we’ve been having! Outstanding performances from the Dubs over in Larne – all the dark winter training has clearly paid off. We had some frankly stunning personal bests set by Steven, Collette, Andy (by a sHUGE six minutes), Ronan (by a STONKING five and a half minutes) and Danielle (by a WHOPPING eleven minutes). Every single Dub represented their club proudly on Saturday morning -words, for a change, fail me – you all rock! I’ll leave you with a group photo (of most of the Dubbers running):

Colin Glen Trail Race
Colin Glen – or “West Belfast’s Amazon Jungle” as it is more affectionately known – is always lovely in the sun. Of course, it is leg achingly remembered by many in the club for its hill climb which never seems to end. One Dub, after finishing third at last year’s race, was back for more (punishment). With legs still buzzing from Larne a five mile trail race seemed like the right idea on paper. Who could have run this?!

Pos	Name	Time	Notes
1	Steven Todd	00:40:00	First Place!

Just a stroll in the park for you Stevem – and major kudos on winning after Larne the day before too. Although we know that this was the beginning of your Hill and Dales training – long and trail-ey enough as a good base to work from. By his own admission, 1st by some margin – “winner winner, chickhen dinner”. The only non-parkrun event that you’ve ever won, so that deserves a photo:

Jimmy’s 10k
What a difference a week makes, with snow falling last Sunday morning – a complete reverse in fortunes with the sun splitting the skies and the temperatures ever rising. This popular course is a fast route taking in the sights and sounds of Downpatrick and the surrounding countryside. Despite the postponement from last weekend, that didn’t stop some Dubs making the trip down:

Pos	Name	Time	Time
537	Alex Blackstock	01:07:13	---

Great running Alex – all the hard work at training is finally paying off. It is also great to see you participating in a race – as one of our stalwart, all weather Dub cheerleaders that can be relied on! Some chunk of time taken off since Carlingford a few weeks ago, that is the direction you want to take it! We even found a photo:

Wicklow Half Marathon
This was the weekend of half marathons for the Dubs – this one in Wicklow is the first of a triology of races where all the medals join together to form a shamrock. This course kicks off in Wicklow (shocker, I know), moving east before heading south towards Hawkstown – climbing all the way until the half way point. This leads to a downhill section heading east towards the coast, before rising again to the finish back in Wicklow. Basically, not an easy course, so let’s see who took it on:

Pos	Name	Time	Notes
473	Anne Marie Ryan	02:13:23	---

That was a demanding course, and in warmer than expected conditions this was going to be a tough one. Fantastic running Anne Marie – all you have to do now is refocus for the second event in a month’s time (then repeat a third time)! We hope that you had a great day out, we know you were down with your sister and some friends – how do I know this?!

Around the Bay Road Race (Canada)
Anyone remember Jane? You know, she was our Social Secretary before she defected over to Canada? Well I promised this week to include her 30k – yes, that isn’t a typo, she raced for 18.7 miles – Race Around the Bay. Starting in Hamilton and downhill to the coastline along to Burlington. Then it is gentle include before an undulating finish towards Burlington Heights (yeah, aptly named). Anyone want to guess how Jane got on?

Pos	Name	Time	Notes
889	Jane McCann	02:24:21	---

Magic running Jane – and new PB over the 30k distance too!  You’ve  Great work, and fantastic preparation for your upcoming marathon.  Judging from your activity posted to social media, you made it look easy – we’d like to think all the cold weather training with us preparted you for this one!  Great to see updates from our previous members too, so don’t be shy if you’d like featured some week like Jane – being on Strava helps a lot here, not going to lie. In fine Dub tradition, Jane even kindly provided some photos:

parkrun
For some, the weekend is about relaxing and taking some time to enjoy your running. Luckily, for anyone in this frame of mind there is a free, weekly timed 5k run in 25 local parks around the country. In some rather nice sunshine, we had a fair few Dubs jump out of bed and head to the park:

Name	Time	Notes
Victoria
Michael KIRK-SMITH	00:23:14
Kathy MAYHEW	00:24:14	New PB!
Brona SHAW	00:30:54
Pippa MACLARAN	00:31:10
Queen's
Ronan MCCAUGHEY	00:23:22
Maire MCCAUGHEY	00:24:58
Wallace
James GUINN	00:28:29
Ormeau
James DICKEY	00:20:55
Natalie CONNOLLY	00:21:08
James SHERIDAN	00:21:45	New PB!
Marie SWEET	00:22:22
Antrim
Alex BLACKSTOCK	00:32:48
Valley
Karen CARLISLE	00:26:15	New PB!

Sure, there’s nothing else for it on a cracking morning like that – some great running by all the Dubs out there in the various parks early on Saturday. We have some people we need to highlight – so grab your hat and get ready to tip it! We had new PBs set by Kathy (at Victoria), James S (at Ormeau) and Karen (at Valley) – magic running everyone, great to see so many personal bests being set. We had a massive milestone as Ronan Mc earned himself his red 50 t-shirt acrossing the line for the 50th time on Saturday morning:

Warmdown
If you’ve made it this far, then fair play to you! Bit of a bank holiday Easter weekend coming up – so plenty of races out there – don’t be shy, bring a camera along with you!  Treated myself to a wee night out on Friday, and while I was walking home a man tried to sell me a coffin – I told him that’s the last thing I need!

Live long and prosper.

Disclaimer: Every effort was taken to ensure the results above are correct (t’was a big week wasn’t it?!) If you’d like to make a complaint, then you’ll automatically volunteer yourself for writing duties next week 🙂