We have news from the trails, Ballynahinch, Connemara, Greenisland, London and various parkrun over the jump!

Warmup
One of the best club weekends of the year has now come and gone – and what a weekend it was too! One of the reasons we like waiting a few days for the roundup is to let the dust settle, and we can step back and we can appreciate more so the feats accomplished. A proud week to be a blue topped Dub is to follow, but first some pharmaceutical advice for you: I bought myself a really expensive laxative the other day – it gave me a good run for my money! Here we go…

Hill & Dales, Race 2: Tollymore
You know at the end of Back to the Future, where Doc Brown says “Roads? Where we’re going, we don’t need roads!” If you’ve ever wondered what the Hill & Dales races are like then this as concise as one can be about them!  With a mixture of trail, grass and mud to work through, along with inclines from 0 to 88 degrees (let’s see who gets that joke) up two peaks, Tollymore Forest Park was a hive of activity on a stunning Thursday evening, when five Dub descended:

Woah, that was a tough, tight race and a challenge which was more than ably accepted by our stellar Dub Goats who produced some cracking performances. The Goats can fairly shift, with impressive running by all including Bernie and Claire who were right up there with the top females racing. The Goats even accepted the mere Black Sheep into the family for the night, and they showed the true meaning of team spirit staying to cheer him up that final hill to the finish! A lack of official results means that we have to resort to the old fashioned way of knowing if someone actually completed a race:

Flashmob parkrun: Queen’s
After a break for our colder than expected Winter, it was time for flashmob crew to come out of hibernation once again. Originally planned for Antrim, plans were scuppered and quickly moved to our habitual home at Queen’s. Thankfully, last week’s spell of good weather moved with us into the weekend as we prepared to take on 2 laps of the Queen’s route. We had an Errigle of Dubs out running:

What a morning to be up at the Dub – everyone enjoyed it and every posted cracking times! Let’s congratulate James D on his first visit grabbing the final podium spot. We had some great new course personal best times set by Ronan O, Amanda and Marie Mc! Finally, as is the point of doing this, we had a load of newbie PBs from Kathy, Maureen, Pippa and Brona. Well done everyone, we all earned our free bread this week:

Ballynahinch Lions 10k
Well, this one has a little roar about it!! We’ve all driven through Ballynahinch, admittedly, we’ve driven through it to get to other running races… but did youy ever stop and think “We could go for a race here?!” Starting in the heart of the town, the undulating route took in some of the surrounding countryside before finishing with at the Lions Den Club! We had just the one Dub turn up at this one:

We’re glad to report that it’s roar is worse than its bite, as Danielle produced a cracking time in the sunshine on Saturday morning! A small enough event, but the hospitality was first class as was expected. It is always nice to get the running out of the way early in the weekend, so that you can relax!

EAMS: Not the London Marathon
Well someone was bound to want to cash in on this at some stage! London Marathon day is a chance to run a race under the radar – but you should now by now that I’ll always find out! Four laps starting in Greenisland, uphill to Monkstown, a freewheel down to the shore where it levels out to pick up some time before a final climb back to the start. We’d one Dub choosing the alternative:

That is some running Anne – on a course that is very tricky to keep going on. Thankfully cooler conditions for this event than that other one that was happening at the same time, but the brutal hill four times added to the challenge of it all. It may have been gruelling, but taking the first spot on the podium was a nice, unexpected reward! As the photos below evidence, there is no need to tell you to enjoy yourself after this one:

Connemarathon
Anyone want to hazard a guess where this race was!? Galway always leaves you spoilt for choice, with options for a ultra, full and half marathon available, with each race picking up the new runners as they move along. Set to the backdrop of some gorgeous scenery, this one gets hillier and hillier as you move towards the finish line. Unsurprisingly, we had some representation on the start line:

This race couldn’t be any less similar to its London rival which was held on the same day! Fantastic running by – graced with less favourable conditions than you colleagues across the water. Not a course for personal bests, but a course for taking in the silence and greenery (and brown-ery) of nature.   Let’s give a big shout out to Graeme who was the four hour pacer for the event – I think we can all agree that he did a spot on job with that!  We even had a camera out and about to take a snap:

London Marathon
Thirteen – unlucky for some, very lucky for the Dubs! We had an Errigle of Dubbers running around London in scorching conditions on Sunday morning. As if running a marathon wasn’t tough enough – knowing that it was the warmest marathon day ever just added to the atmosphere. The iconic route takes in most of the major sights around the capital – with support along every inch of the course makes for one amazing experience. Let’s see how our little crew got on:

Well, the warnings were true, so it wasn’t to be a day for targeting PB times. Having said all that – the Dubs choosing to redefine the supersitous “number 13” – as some cracking and magic times were posted from The City on Sunday afternoon. Despite the best efforts of the heat you all did us proud – and you can hold your heads high – you were part of history. For every rule, there is an exception, for us that was our Kate who only went and SMASHED her marathon PB time by two and a half minutes – amazing!  Then we have our Collette who was the first woman home from Northern Ireland – outstanding running!  Of course, a Dub trip away, means some photos:

parkrun
Believe it or not, some Dubbers decided NOT to go for the Flashmob on Saturday morning!! I know, I perish the thought too, but alas, I have to admit some folks just can’t make it to certain events. When that happens, there is only one way to get your weekend fix of running and that is to head off on your own:

Oh yeah – some awesome parkrun tourism carried out by the Dubbers this weekend – once you hit 20 different events let me know, you can join the club! So, hat tip time – first up in every way is Claire at the Victoria event – who make it a hat trick for the Dubs with an all-time 5k PB on her first showing! Our Natalie was second home at the Oremau event this week too! Lots of newbie PBs this week set by Daniel who crossed the border to Cabinteely, James S who crossed the water getting his fix at Mile End, Jane ventured to Tooting Common and Michael made a guest appearance in Warszawa-Praga in Poland! Phew!

Warmdown
One of those rare weeks in the roundup where there isn’t many Dubbers who don’t get a mention – a real club week. Special thanks to our London gang who interrupted their celebrations to send on photos for us all to enjoy. Let’s keep the ball rolling now – we have some momentum behind our wings – let’s put more names in lights as we continue to race over the summer months. Over the weekend, I thought that I had achieved the impossible and won an argument with the missus as to how to arrange our dining room furniture – but when I got home the tables were turned.

Live long and prosper.

Disclaimer: Every effort was taken to ensure the results above are correct (I spent a long time on the London tracker this weekend!) If you’d like to make a complaint, then you’ll automatically volunteer yourself for writing duties next week 🙂