We have Connswater, Dambusters, Lecale, Hillsborough and a trip to various parks – more over the jump!

Warmup
Yikes, it was a feast of running this week! Every time you blinked there was some new results posted from another race – with so many Dub out representing it was great to see. Before we get to the results, I was in a Chinese restaurant the other day when two men started smashing up little filled pastry balls – I had to leave, I couldn’t stand the wonton destruction. Right, let’s move on with the show!

Connswater 5 Mile
Have you herd?! Forget 10k’s, 5 miles is where it’s at this summer! In this lasso shaped rodeo, we had six Dubbers ready to hoedown on this path, trail and field course (sounds familiar, donnit). 377 runners so it got pretty squelchy thru the wet field. Yee ha, our cowpokes were:

Wow personal bests for everyone – 5 miles brought out the best in you all! Top of the shop, our Claire who was 1st lady (leading all the way). Brendan acing the 30 minute mark and Steve scooping his age category (if it existed). Catherine and Julia doing us proud as usual and being strong part of the team running. We have some photos:

Dambusters Half Marathon & 10k
The stunning Silent Valley in the back of beyond hosts an annual half marathon, 10k and 5k races – none of which could be classified in the easy bracket! This year, for a change, morefrom the club took part in the 10k race – starting in the carpark, uphill for 5k to the dam before a 180 and back down to the finish line.  The half goes into a whole world of other pain! We had five blue tops running:

Might have been a smaller than normal turn out for this one, but they were doing the club proud nonetheless! Great to see John C making his roundup debut with a great time over the 13.1 mile route.  With newbie Shane and Katherine racing each other to the line – smashing in under the 50-minute barrier. Club stalwarts, always dependable Brona and Jane – also racing for the second weekend in a row, posting some great times on a 10k with a difference. We have some photos thanks to Katherine:

Lecale Way 10k
Ballyhoran (which is a place, not someone related to a singer from One Direction) hosted this multi-terrain 10k race over beach, grass and rural roads (you know the ones with grass up the middle). Some cracking views – and on a clear day, like Saturday, the views can stretch as far as Scotland. Just the one Dub made the trip to Downpatrick for this one:

Ah, the 10k master returns! Alastair went into hiding there for a while but returned to put in a stonking performance. I was chatting to the organisers of this one, they admitted this one was not to be joked about, so a top ten finish on a lovely Saturday afternoon was just the icing on the cake!

Hillsborough Castle Running Festival
If ever the key was in the name, HILLSborough should make it pretty clear! On a bright if a little windy Sunday morning, the awesome, newly reopened grounds of the Castle hosted a sold out festival of running: 5k, 10k (300ft of hills) and half marathon (400ft of hills) flavours on offer. We had a small gaggle of Dubs taking part in the first running of this new event:

Nice running everyone – that was a challenging course, with relentless rolling hills. In the half marathon race we had on for Brendan well into the top ten – in sixth place, while Marie S took the final podium spot in third place. Some cracking efforts to set new distance personal bests over the 10k course from Rob and Stacey. Geraldine was just being her usual awesome self! Thanks to my mammy, we have a photo:

parkrun
Ah, where would we be without our parkrun on Saturday mornings?! Who wouldn’t want to get up and go for a 5k run with their friends – and of course if there is an optional slice of cake, sure it would be rude to turn that down! Newbies, don’t forget, if you want your name in lights here, make sure you have us selected as your club and no matter where you are in the world – we will find you! That’s the legal disclaimer out of the way, let’s see how the club got on:

An Errigle of Dubs taking part this weekend – only spead out over a few hundred miles for a change!!  So, getting a special nod from us all this week is Richard who was first home at the Enniskillen event, over at Orangefield we had Claire coming home second, and completing the podium places was Nessa on her first appearance at Narin Beach. Just the one new course PB this week from Eamonn (at Ormeau). A little tourism this week from Mike who was at Elgin in Scotland – still not a single event repeated! Thumbs up or down for the roundup?

Warmdown
Not our longest effort ever, but still quite a substantial roundup – brilliant to get the chance to put everyone’s name in lights. If you can, if you’re not listed as a Dub on the results, can you give us a nudge, so that we know to include you on the results – sometimes you can go a bit cross-eye trying to skim through the spreadsheets. I will always remember my favourite teacher at school was Mrs. Turtle – she had a strange name, but she tortoise well!

Live long and prosper.

Disclaimer: Every effort was taken to ensure the results above are correct (I’ve done over 250 of these now – give me a break, please!) If you’d also like to make a complaint, then you’ll automatically volunteer yourself for writing duties