Weekly Roundup: 2019-12-17
It is party season with a flashmob, Kilbroney, the Antarctic and various parks the destination of choice – read more about it over the jump!
Warmup
Oh the weather outside is frightful – or bloody freezin’ as we call it around here! The festive season is fast approaching and we like to celebrate around here with some festive treats to help get you into the spirits. More on all that and more a little later, but thinking back, I remember when my teacher told me I would never be good at poetry because of my dyslexia – but so far I’ve made 3 vases and jug. Okay, let’s see what we did this week!
Christmas Party
We had our annual Christmas dinner and party at the First Floor Bistro on Saturday evening. If you missed if then you might not have heard who our award winners were:
| Most Improved Female of the Year | Catherine Baillie |
| Club Female of the Year | Roisin Byrne |
| Most Improved Male of the Year | Jim Larkin |
| Club Male of the Year | Brendan McIllhennon |
On behalf of the club, we have to give massive thanks and kudos to Claire for arranging an awesome Christmas party – we hope you had a blast.
Awards! Roisin, Brendan, Catherine & Jim - shields up!
Flashmob pakrun: Stormont
It has become traditional, the morning of the club Christmas Party we gather at Stormont Estate and get the flashmob together for one final time that year. With Stormont about to become the focus once again politically, it was fitting to enjoy the event for ourselves one last time, as the runners stole the limelight on Saturday morning:
| Pos | Name | Time | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 19 | Claire Tonry | 00:21:43 | 2nd Place! |
| 29 | Marie Sweet | 00:22:30 | New PB! |
| 30 | Ronan O'Flaherty | 00:22:31 | |
| 40 | Ronan McCaughey | 00:23:25 | New PB! |
| 62 | Máire McCaughey | 00:24:23 | New PB! |
| 86 | Francis McKenna | 00:25:50 | New PB! |
Small in numbers, but mighty in running – absolutely cracker running from everyone! This is why we do these events! Not only did Claire score a podium paying position, but we also had new course personal bests from Marie S, Ronan Mc, Máire Mc and Fra on the day too. Don’t they all look so happy to be there?!
parklife: Marie, Claire, Ronan O, Fra, Máire & Ronan McCaughey absolutely freezing!
Run Forest Run, Race 4: Kilbroney
Anyone who has walked Kilbroney Park will know that it isn’t flat – and the latest race in this series certainly isn’t! The 10k race has an elevation change of just shy of 800 ft and took runners on a mix of paths including part way along, including part of the Mourne Way. On a chilly morning, two Dubs made the journey to keep the medal collection going:
| Pos | Name | Time | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 7 | Brendan McIlhennon | 00:37:10 | --- |
| 79 | Katherine Harkness | 00:48:54 | --- |
Well, if want to enjoy the Christmas Party being able to gloat – then this was a fine way to do it! Brilliant running from Brendan and Katherine – quite the drive to get to this one and in those conditions too! A fine performance from our Club Man of the Year and well done to both over the trails and woodland paths. The next race in the series is in Tollymore on January 4th – if you’re interested! When we talk about Christmas spirit, it is always fun to dress up for a race:
Chillbroney: Katheine goes solo down for the latest race in the series!
Antarctic Ice Marathon
This is the big one – 26.2 miles in the Antarctic. All the specialist gear is required and only a select chosen few get to compete and take part in this unique event. Four times around route – with some out of this world scenery. Let’s take a look at how Sean got on:
| Pos | Name | Time | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 15 | Sean O'Hagan | 05:30:46 | Amazing! |
What an amazing achievement, all done for charity and a fantastic experience to cherish and remember. Outstanding running and really well done with this one! Sometimes, I don’t think that words are enough to describe some events. Hopefully, when he is back, we’ll get Sean to write a little but about this trip and the experience.
Antarctic Ice Marathon: Sean's prized medal.
parkrun
With some events being cancelled due to ice this week, you were lucky to get to a park with an event actually taking place. In Baltic conditions, hats and gloves where required to help ease the pain of running in weather like that. Despite the conditions, there were some top performances from our blue tops, as you can see for yourself:
| Name | Time | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Maureen OLIVER | 00:28:06 | |
| Rob WALKER | 00:19:00 | |
| Catherine BAILLIE | 00:21:05 | New PB! |
| Nessa AGNEW | 00:23:39 | |
| Julia ORR | 00:24:12 | |
| Brona SHAW | 00:29:10 | |
| Lynn DONNELLY | 00:30:51 | |
| Jane PATTERSON | 00:32:43 | |
| Liam LAVERY | 00:24:41 | |
| Dermot DAWSON | 00:24:52 | |
| Edward CALDWELL | 00:24:59 | |
| Brian DERBY | 00:20:57 | |
| Marcella KELLY | 00:31:04 | |
| Niall MCCRORY | 00:19:38 | 2nd Place! |
Nice running everyone one, that is how you stick it to the weather that tries to spoil your Saturday morning exercise! Tip you hat this week to Niall who as a smooth second at the Stranmillis College event while on-form Catherine B lowered her own bar for the Victoria event with a brand new course PB at the event. We even have a few photos this week:
parklife: The gloves are half on and off for Rob at Victoria.
Warmdown
Our festive treats continue with the Christmas Market Run, the Mince Pie Sunday Run and the NYD Flashmob parkrun double over the coming days. Keep an eye out for those, and before we leave you this week – it is time to educate. Fun fact of the week: I recently discovered the Dr. Pepper is a fizzician.
Live long and prosper.
Disclaimer: Every effort was taken to ensure the results above are correct (get into the spirit, it is Christmas, no complaints!) If you’d also like to make a complaint, then you’ll automatically volunteer yourself for writing duties 