S’all about the flashmob, Gosford, XC and the parkrun over the jump!

Warmup
Yesterday, Monday, was supposed to be one of the most depressing days of the year. There was no sign of the January blues effecting our intrepid crew of Dubbers this week – with some magic performances at the various events.  The missus told me she wanted to see The Monkees tribute band in Switzerland – then I saw her face, now I’m in Geneva.  Right then, it’s roundup time!

Flashmob: Ormeau parkrun
With a high risk of rain (it was over 70% chance) on Saturday morning, this is why we start the flashmob parkrun events in parks that are less likely to be cancelled in bad weather. Early Saturday morning an Errigle of 19 Dubs turned to Ormeau Park for the park for the first flashmob of 2019. With support from the side-lines, they joined a field of almost 500 runners:

Outstanding – it was a joy to watch so many Dubs kitted up, pushing hard and enjoying themselves in the park. It might be a flashmob but we have some Dubs to celebrate nonetheless! Three Dubbers placed on the podium: Claire took the top step for the women, newbie John C took the final step for the men’s, while Catherine grabbed the final step of the women’s with both hands. We had five stunning new course PBs set by Catherine, Marie Mc, Val, Kathy and Brona. Some January tourism was the order of the day for Ronan Mc, Judith and Lynn as they all set newbie PBs on Saturday morning! For the second week in a row, newcomer Julia managed to smash her all-time 5k personal best time by swiping another 30 seconds off it this week! A few group photos in the slider below, check out the full gallery here. A reminder our next flashmob is on February 2nd at the first running of Stranmillis parkrun!

Run Forest Run: Gosford 5k
Bringing the series back towards Armagh, Gosford Forest Park played host to the latest event in the Run Forest Run series on Saturday morning. The course trended uphill – with at least four distinct peaks in elevation over the roughly three-mile route. We had one Dub up for a few sharp turns, tracking along a river and running round a castle on Saturday:

Nice running Katherine – a last minute change of plans to the 5k didn’t effect your times at all! Great running in some lovely scenery, along trail paths – how else would you want to spend a Saturday morning?! If you’d like to spend one of your Saturday’s like that, then the next race in the series is in Antrim Castle Gardens on February 2nd.

Comber XC
4k always sounds easy – until you read the words “cross country” following it! Not too far to go for this one, Comber, for two 2k loops around the grounds. A bumps course, rising towards 1k mark on each loop. With the recent weather too, there was a return to the ‘more traditional’ cross country running conditions. We had three ladies taking part:

Fantastic – three Dubs in the top 20, that sounds like a job well done to all of us here in Roundup Towers. A nice yet undeniably hellish course – impressive times posted by our tremendous trio! While the weather building up the day might not have been the best – thankfully the weather held out for the duration of the race, it is almost like we’re having a mild winter so far!

Lifford 5k
Did you know that Lifford was once voted as the most desirable place to live in the Republic? Well, its stock can only have gone up on Sunday morning as a few hundred runners made their way to the border village. In grey and damp conditions, the second (of three) races in the Spring Series got underway. Starting at the cathedral, two laps of the market out to the hills and back to the Diamond for the finish. Just the one Dub at this one:

Nice work Paul – consistent running and finishing one week after the other. Slightly worse conditions from last week, and a quick start was impeded by an unexpected undulating middle section – made the Sunday dinner that little but more delicious when the plate was put in front of you. One last race left in the series – but sadly we couldn’t find any photos this week 🙁

parkrun
If you didn’t know about the flashmob timetable – then why not?! It is online here! We know that it isn’t possible for everyone to attend, thankfully there’s loads of other events around that we can do. Just a dynamic duo taking part this week, let’s take a look at how they got on:

Nice work, you’d be forgiven for wanted to turn over in the bed and give the auld parkrun a skip – especially with the weather we were on the receiving end of on Friday! Nice running gents, a special nod to our Niall who did some tourism at the Portrush event setting a newbie PB. No photos this week mind you 🙁

Warmdown
January Blues?! More like Dubs Rules! We stuck those blues in the bin this week – phew. These months are always about setting the foundation for the year ahead – and by the looks of things we’re in for a cracker 2019!  I took my dog to the lake over the weekend and noticed he floats very well – he’s a good buoy.

Disclaimer: Every effort was taken to ensure the results above are correct (my hands are still numb from Ormeau Park on Saturday morning!!). If you’d also like to make a complaint, then you’ll automatically volunteer yourself for writing duties next week 🙂