Don’t believe the image – this week’s entry is anything but!  It’s all over the jump!

Warmup
T’was a late night getting this one sorted, but totally, totally worth it – well done folks! I got a complain about last week’s featured image (at the top) was boring and unrepresentative, so I have taken the feedback onboard. We’ll have lots more from the Belfast Marathon next week – I just don’t have the time this week! Get ready for it, a whopper of a roundup is coming, but first..! Big news – I have raised my bog standards and got a new bathroom fitted, I’m especially pleased with the ABBA branded toilet – what a loo!  Let’s go!

NI Running Mile
It is nice that, once a year, the local running community comes together to remember the feat achieved by Roger Bannister in breaking the four-minute mile. The course – simple – four laps around the Mary Peter’s Track – how hard can that be?! Well, the answer is tough, with each heat a mix of runners all aiming to beat their previous bests. A warm Friday evening and one heck of an Errigle of Dub supporters trackside lead to some impressive results:

Pos	Heat Pos	Name	Time	Notes
Elite Men (A)
1	1	James Trainor	04:35.79	First! New PB!
Elite Men (B)
11	5	Richard Conn	04:48.48	---
5 - 6 Minutes (Heat 2)
27	5	Steven Todd	05:13.31	New PB!
6 - 7 Minutes (Heat 3)
100	9	Ronan O'Flaherty	06:05.75	New PB!
6 - 7 Minutes (Heat 1)
106	6	Suzy Kennedy	06:14.66	New PB!
9 - 10+ Minutes (Heat 1)
118	6	Paul McFlynn	06:28.60	---

What a club evening that was! We had our part-time green topped James T taking home all the spoils with the fastest time around the track. Following him on his debut at the mile, Richard posted an powerful benchmark time. Steven set out with high targets and achieved them and more with another personal best! Ronan didn’t quite get the sub-6 he wanted but still bagged a distance PB! Our Suzy motored on in style setting a best time over the mile. Finally, on his return to running, Paul posted a benchmark time to lead his heat. Mixed with awesome Dub support it was a great evening, as you can see:

Prague Marathon
Ever wanted to visit a European city and take in the sights in a more cost-effective way than a bus tour? Well you could follow the lead of one Dub, who took to the streets of Prague this past Sunday. The roughly figure of eight route crosses the Vltava River no less than EIGHT times – and never strays too far. In the sun, and unluckily the heat, we had one blue top in the starting line-up:

Pos	Name	Time	Notes
2381	Anna McArdle	3:54:52	---

Ah Anna – really great running, and in that heat too – fair play for even getting to the finish line. That was one tough event, I got a race review from Anna herself – I shall redact the some parts… by mile 14 I hit the wall which made the last 8 miles total hell – but it’s all over now, so very happy!  Here though, it doesn’t look like it too anything out of ya:

Toronto Marathon
If you think we’re having good weather, then marathon day in Toronto ???. The route kicks off in the heart of Toronto, with a lovely steep incline just after the 5k, before a gentle downhill towards Lake Ontario – with an out and back in along the lake, missed with a refreshing wind pulling you to the finish.  For one Dub, a mere 3,245 miles won’t stop her getting a mention this week:

Pos	Name	Time	Notes
178	Jane McCann	03:27:05	Smashing New PB!

Ah Jane – what a way to smash your PB! That Canadian air must be doing you some good – or is that the snow and ice training you’ve been doing. Jane herself admits that, while it was a PB course – never in a million years did she think that she’d smash 16 MINUTES off her previous best time!  Oh and the bling – it even hurts to wear it, I think this shall be the first in a series of #RunnersProblems on the roundup!  Thanks to the wonders of Strava we even have a few:

North West 10k
It must be the May Day Bank Holiday again if this roadshow is back in town. Letterkenny, one of busiest cities in Donegal hosts their annual 10k race around through the shops and streets. While it is a nice route with a nasty hill up Main Street. In the sun though, this is a great course, as one Dub found out for himself:

Pos	Name	Time	Notes
152	John McCullagh	00:44:49	---

An impressive sub-45 time from the triathlete! Great moving a running especially considering the massive turnout of runners and temperatures hitting a cool 21 degrees in the Donegal roads. Well organised and three loops – the event, as usual, comes highly recommended due to its mostly flat journey!  We have some super secret spies on the scene, who sent through this shot:

Belfast Marathon
So, marathon day descends upon us all once again – and as usual the day was a bit of a builder, getting warmer as we moved into the afternoon. This of course meant that the race started in ideal conditions by City Hall. Possibly for the last time, the now traditional route heads East, then North before finishing in the South. First up, we’ll take a look at the full marathon runners, followed by a look at how our relay teams go on:

Marathoners

Pos	Name	Time	Notes
107	Peter Morrison	03:11:00	---
136	Gavin Creech	03:14:44	---
445	Graeme Colhoun	03:42:58	---
570	Neil Hanley	03:47:57	---
638	Richard Donald	03:51:38	---
1167	Danielle McCluskey	04:23:38	New PB!

Well, that’s a bit of a performance and a half from the Dubs right there – well done everyone. While the race may have started in ideal conditions, those last few miles were torturous – with the heat and the sun building. From our vantage point upon “Dub Mound” we can say that you all looked strong heading into the final two miles. Completing the marathon is epic, but of special note is Gavin who cracked his Paris time by one minute, Graeme who once again got it spot on as the 3:45 pacer and our Dani who knocked ten minutes off her best time “retire for good” from marathon running [we’ll believe it when we see it!].  Also, nod to our Ryan Love – who decided to run leg A, then continue on for the entire course of the 26.2 mile route. Obviously, not chipped, but I’ll make sure to include him in the wrap up next week!

Relayers

Pos	Team Name			Time
6	Cirque du Sore Legs			02:38:17
Richard C	Andy McD	James T	Collette McC	Brian D
11	Your Pace or Mine			02:46:53
James D	Jim L	Steven T	Claire T	Bernie O'K
106	We Thought He Said "Rum"			03:27:42
Danielle C	Marie S	Anna C	Heather B	Karen McB
153	Stay Chafe Out There			03:36:44
Roisin B	John McA	Paul McC	Suze K	Paul McF

What can I say here – thanks to the 20 Dubs who volunteered to give up their Bank Holiday Monday to run the relay in club colours. You all did us proud and you should extremely happy with the results. At the front, it was a much tighter race than last year, further down our teams surpassed even their own expectations – which after all is what this event is all about. As last year, we’re a little strapped for time, so for now, here’s a few sample photos from the day:

parkrun
Bank Holiday Weekend: ✓ | Great Weather: ✓ | Best Way to Kickstart the Long Weekend: ✓ – how else would we have it?! Us runners love a good bank holiday, it is an extra opportunity to get out running and / or racing. Of course, parkrun is a run and just for fun and not a race… or so someone once told me! With the sun trying to shine on the parks far and wide, the Dubs gathered for their weekly 5k pilgrimage in our droves:

Name	Time	Notes
Victoria
James DICKEY	00:19:39
Michael KIRK-SMITH	00:22:36
Roisin BYRNE	00:23:52
Nessa AGNEW	00:24:00
Neil CURRAN	00:24:29
Brona SHAW	00:29:09	Massive Sub 30!
Ronan O'FLAHERTY	00:29:10
Trevor MURPHY	01:00:03
Queen's
James TRAINOR	00:22:30
Maire MCCAUGHEY	00:23:55
Ronan MCCAUGHEY	00:25:25
James GUINN	00:28:21
Falls
Steven TODD	00:18:33	First Place! New PB!
Wallace
Paula OWENS	00:21:36
Ormeau
Brian DERBY	00:20:08	100th parkrun!!!
Natalie CONNOLLY	00:20:44	First Place! New PB!
Bangor
James SHERIDAN	00:21:39	New PB!
Stormont
Alastair KING	00:19:23	Second Place! New PB!
Bronagh SHIELDS	00:30:37	New PB!
Colin Glen
Frances MC CAMBRIDGE	00:27:49
Sligo (Ireland)
Kathy MAYHEW	00:24:52

Magic work everyone – that is a lot of people out running on Saturday morning – I love to see it! Yikes -grab your sun hats and get ready to tip ‘em cause we have a lot to get through. Taking home all the spoils was our Steven – first and a new PB at the Falls event. Over at Ormeau we had Natalie steal the double too – first and a new PB. A little further out, at Stormont, Alastair grabbed second place along with a new PB too! We had two new course PBs set this week by James S (at Bangor) and Bronagh (at Stormont). Finally, a special nod to Brona who really wanted to out some demons to bed and try and run a sub 30 minute pakrun at the Victoria event -I think the results speak for the themselves. We had our roaming photographer, fresh from two marathons in the last month on the side-lines:

Finally, finally – the Dub legend that is Mr. Brian Derby snuck over the line Ormeau on Saturday morning to clock up a total of 100 parkrun events – that’s 500km of park running alone! I don’t think that there isn’t anyone in the club who hasn’t benefitted from Brian’s guidance and wisdom over the years – well done, thank you and keep’er lit!

Warmdown
Well, that was a tough week to stay on top of things – but I think we made it. All being well, this won’t be the last we hear of the marathons. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I am away to go lie down in a darkened room!!  Thanks for your concern, yes, it is true, I had to go to the doctor’s this week with some hearing problems. He asked, “Can you describe the symptoms?”, I replied “Yeah, sure, Homer’s a fat balding fellas and Marge is his wife!”

Live long and prosper.

Disclaimer: Every effort was taken to ensure the results above are correct (you can brace yourself for this week all you want, but it is still a mountain of work!!) If you’d like to make a complaint, then you’ll automatically volunteer yourself for writing duties next week 🙂