We travel to the Mournes, the Glens, Berlin and Copenhagen via some parks this week – all over the jump!

Warmup
Well, after last week’s salvo against the team here at Roundup Towers – what could only follow would be a more quiet, sedate week – right?! I’m not sure our Dub Goats know the meaning of the words “quiet” or “sedate”.  More on them in a moment, but first..!  The missus had a headache so I thought I would distract her with the story of two Italian wheat farmers who would fight over their crops shouting “That’s a my gain!” – her headache got worse.  Time to see what your favourite blue tops have been up to:

Mourne Mountain Marathon
This is a marathon – but not of 26 miles, cause let’s face it! Its a marathon feat of locating hidden tiny control boxes, often on placed on top of mountains – this was the epic task facing our Dubs. A team event, we had Bernie and Steve in the one day (6 hour event) while Jim with brother Noel thought one day wasnt enough so did two (which included camping, just for fun!). Let’s take a look at how our intrepid adventurers got on:

Two Day Event

One Day Event

Although amassing a huge haul of points the one day team were docked points for a late finish (apparently a sheep with the same colour scheme as the control boxes had led them astray – don’t ask!) Still they sprinted down the last mountain ready for the hot soup at the finish. Our two day team however were given no soup and a night under canvas and boy did it rain, all to start day 2 and do it all again. Truly a race never to be forgotten, and it was Jim’s 21st go at the event! Still time for photos of course:

GOAT Triathlon
It’s that time of the year again, the GOAT (Glens Of Antrim Triathlon) Triathlon returns. This year we had a tri trio of Dubs tackling the 750m open water swim, followed by a leisurely 22km cycle all rounded off with a breath-taking (in more ways than one) 5k run along the cliff path. You can probably guess, but let’s see who did it:

There was a lot of training and hard work went into this one – anyone that follows these three on Strava will know that, so hats off to Anna, Sean and Kate, all finishing quite close to each other putting in some great consistent times. Our Anna was also the third female overall in the standing too – unbelievable. I didn’t find one of Sean, but I’ve a photo of the dynamic duo of Dub ladies:

Berlin Marathon
Always a popular route, and for good reason, the Berlin marathon was hosted on Sunday morning. The 42km course was baked in sunshine, and unlike when the sun comes out here – that brought with it some very humid running temperatures. Us Dubbers do love a good run in the sun – so let’s take a look at who was taking part:

Magic running Paula – those were extremely tough conditions and unexpected conditions too. Not many of us can say we were part of events where truly historic running moments happen, so you’ll always be able to say that you ran in the same race when Eliud Kipchoge broke the marathon record! Not too shabby at all, and sure you were looking fresh as a daisy by the end:

Copenhagen Half Marathon
We do seem to be enjoying our international events these past few weeks, this time to head to Denmark. A beautiful city with lots of scenic locations along the 13.1 miles of the course. The route is mostly flat for the first half, with a severe uphill followed by a downhill just before the half before a reasonably undulating run to the finish. All in a day’s work for one Dub:

Outstanding Andy and a personal best time over the half course, all your training with the Dubs is paying off great dividends now! It was great to get the e-mail updates from yourself and you dear lady – we all hope that you enjoyed your little break away too! Of course, with a photographer on hand there were no shortage of photos:

parkrun
If it didn’t rain at your local parkrun this week – then you must have just missed it and no more. For the lucky few, a tantalising early morning 5k awaited. Eager to try and get one over on your mate, or that person who you seem to always be tracking at races – our attention moves the parks far and wide for the free, weekly, timed 5k run. Take a look at who was out representing the Dubs:

We have to hat tip some cool running this week from our very own Roisin who only went and nabbed first place at the Waterworks event! While out doing some tourism we had Alastair set a new course PB at the Castelwellan event. Finally, to one of our newbies Edward, who was a newbie at the Dundalk event and his set benchmark time for the course!

Warmdown
That’s it all over for another week! Belfast Half Marathon is coming up this week and I won’t be there for support, so if anyone from the Dub Cheering Squad (you know who you are), is planning on heading down to watch – take a few photos for us for next week will you please?!  I was thinking (which is dangerous, I’ll admit), but if 2×2 makes 4, and 3×3 makes 9 – how some 0x0 makes gravy?

Live long and prosper.

Disclaimer: Every effort was taken to ensure the results above are correct (I’m blaming old age this week!) If you’d like to make a complaint, then you’ll automatically volunteer yourself for writing duties next week! 🙂