The weekly East Down AC Notes from Joe Quinn and Alison Carrol. An update of what the club runners have been up to.
CHAMPIONCHIP IRELAND SERIES AT DOWN ROYAL – RACE 7
A total of 62 runners took part in the Half Marathon. Declan Teague, who last ran the distance competitively in 2018, was in the line up.
He showed that despite not having invested in the new carbon soled “go faster shoes”, which he reckons at least half of the first 50 runners in the 5K were wearing, that he still has the ability to compete with the best by posting 1.29.24.
While not a PB it was nevertheless a very satisfactory result which earned him 13th place overall. The Half Marathon route comprised just over 7 laps of the race course perimeter road, which though mostly flat was exposed to sharp, drizzly showers and a fresh headwind on the back straight so conditions were far from ideal.
THE 5K
to 13th place in Saturday’s
half marathon at Down Royal.
Gordon Graham (Gordy) clocked 15.55, within 1 second of his PB but getting a second sub-16 for the distance to prove that the first one was not a fluke was ample reward for him.
Jimmy Sloan, who recently transferred from EDAC to Newry AC, turned in a great performance to take overall 4th place in 15.27. So Gordy has only 28 seconds to make up on him!!
Sharon Madine set a new PB of 21.07 and it seems that she has found her favourite distance at 5K as she is getting faster week by week.
Maureen Kelly always considered herself a fun runner but having attended the Thursday speed session and taking her training to a new consistency she saw improvement to the point that she wanted to try a race. Her time of 24.37 therefore represents a PB, compared with her previous attempts at the distance on parkruns and will set her a good base target for the future.
Her son James has spent more time recently playing cricket but proved that he has the fitness to turn out a steady run, bowling along to a more than respectable time of 25.11. This race saw the biggest field of the day with 231 runners taking part.
THE 10K
Seamus Savage who is top form unfortunately had to withdraw after injuring his ankle but hopes to be back at it as soon as possible and certainly by the date of the final event in the series on 24 October. As it was 86 runners took to the line for this event.
Deo does it again
Hot on the heels of last week’s virtual London Marathon, EDAC’s Deo Kato took to the streets again for another solo challenge. He is still currently in London but had decided to take on the virtual Oxford Half Marathon.
When such an event is virtual it is the distance that matters rather than where the miles are completed. Considering the fact that he didn’t rest up after the weekend’s 26.2 route, it is remarkable that he was fit for the 13.1 miles at all, let alone in such a commendable time.
He clocked 1 hour 40 minutes with apparent ease. Another goal met and another week of daily 10Ks completed. Keep going Deo!
Hi all would it be possible to add these lines and photo to this week’s EDAC report as submitted earlier by Joe? Probably just before the final paragraph on What’s Next?
I have also attached the full file with this edit if that is easier
Deo does it again
Hot on the heels of last week’s virtual London Marathon, EDAC’s Deo Kato took to the streets again for another solo challenge. He is still currently in London but had decided to take on the virtual Oxford Half Marathon.
When such an event is virtual it is the distance that matters rather than where the miles are completed.
Considering the fact that he didn’t rest up after the weekend’s 26.2 route, it is remarkable that he was fit for the 13.1 miles at all, let alone in such a commendable time.
He clocked 1 hour 40 minutes with apparent ease. Another goal met and another week of daily 10Ks completed.
Keep going Deo!
WHAT’S NEXT?
Race 8, the last in the Championchip Ireland Series, will be on 24th October under the title of the Lisburn Festival of Running and will offer a full marathon, a half marathon, a 10K and a 5K on a flat, fast, traffic free route entirely on tarmac roads within the Maze Prison Heritage site.
The details are as follows:- Marathon 6 laps beginning at 9am, Half Marathon 3 laps beginning at 9.15am, 10K 2 laps at 1pm and 5K 1 lap beginning at 2pm.
Anyone intending to run should note that online entries only will be accepted via:
https://online.athleticsni.org/ps/event/ChampionChipIrelandRunningSeriesEvent8Lisburn
It is unlikely that any of the normal road races which tend to fill up the racing calendar at this time will take place because of the continuing coronavirus restrictions, so members are encouraged to take part in the in-house series to maintain their motivation and to improve their fitness.
The next one in the series will be a 10K race on Sunday 18 October (10 am start) – starting from EDAC Clubrooms.
As per ANI rules our Clubrooms must remain in lockdown for the foreseeable future and all training will continue to take place outdoors.
