East Down AC runners star at local event for charity

East Down AC runners star at local event for charity

5 October 2022

LAST Wednesday evening close to 100 runners, perhaps tempted by the promise of beer and bubbles, turned out to run in a charity event which took place in the Finnebrogue Woods. 

This fundraiser was hosted by M.B. McGrady & Co in support of the Mary Peters Trust. The idyllic woodland setting by the lake was further enhanced by the warm glow of the slowly setting sun. 

Once the runners had lined up, the whistle blew and they set off on a circuit of the trails. 

It was not a fast or easy run as there were twists and turns and rough ground underfoot but the scenery made up for any extra effort required. 

East Down AC was well represented by young and old and carried off a fair few of the prizes. Joe Napier (22.28)  took the overall win with Mark O’Connor (23.09) on the third step of the podium. 

Sharon Madine was the leading lady and sixth overall in 23.32. EDAC junior Cara Napier did well to get third female in 26.38. The rest of the club members came in interspersed with other runners all happy to have been part of the event and eager to claim their complimentary beverages on the finish line. 

Special mention to Carmel Ross, who only joined last week and was out wearing the EDAC vest in what we hope is the first race of many. 

London Marathon

The London Marathon moved to the autumn a few years ago to accommodate the restrictions caused by the Covid pandemic but happily, next year, it returns to its traditional spring/Easter date. A lot of people will be delighted by the move as they have always trained through often inhospitable Winter weather to peak at the early April date and have found it difficult to change their traditional body clock settings. 

However, with conditions pretty close to perfect on Sunday and with the men’s and women’s races both recording new 

course records, it was difficult to blame the time of year for anyone doing less than their targeted time. 

It was not East Down’s leading marathon competitor, Gordy Graham’s, reason for dejection after Sunday’s latest completion of the 26.2 miles classic.

He stormed to a fantastic 2.34.49 in the Belfast Marathon last October and immediately set his sights on the Manchester Marathon in March of this year with high hopes of edging towards the 2.30 mark. 

He was carrying a knee injury from weeks before that event and was glad to start and finish at all so he accepted his 2.38 time there with stoicism. 

Having aggravated his knee badly doing that race, he was forced to take a break and he has been gradually building back to strength since then with the London Marathon as his next goal. 

He was feeling optimistic until only a few days before the race when he had a freak incident when he knelt on a nail causing it to embed in his knee. 

He tried to persuade himself that the pain would ease in time but it was hard to ignore as the race went on, adding to the 

collateral damage of racing hard. 

While to most of us a sub 2.40 marathon is an amazing achievement, from his perspective it was a bitter disappointment to finish in 2.39.19. 

In his own words, it is “back to the drawing board again” as he targets next year’s London renewal as his latest attempt at the 2.30 time. 

After all it’s a mere six months away and comes at the best time of year. We all say well done anyway Gordy, it was a splendid run and better luck next time.

Alice Brear-Clarkson had a great day out, running a pretty perfect race to take two minutes and more off her previous best by finishing in 3.08.04. 

She paced it very steadily at the start and unusually, in a race of this length, she actually upped her speed as the miles went on running her quickest miles at the end. Now that is impressive, well done Alice, great running.

Stephen Heasley had won his place in the London Marathon through the East Down AC ballot and was a worthy recipient as he is an experienced campaigner. 

Indeed, he has run several ultra distances so a marathon is like a mere warm up to him. He was delighted to tick this race off his bucket list and said that it was everything he had heard of and more. 

He found the organisation slick and he was blown away by the phenomenal support from the spectators lining the route. 

He made sure to enjoy every moment soaking up the atmosphere as he passed the city landmarks on the historic route and finished in 4.08. Well done Stephen, congratulations on a tremendous effort.

Conor in Ironman

With all the talk of marathons it is definitely worthy of mention that one of our members, Conor Rice, representing Down Triathlon Club took part in an Ironman event in Barcelona on the same day as the runners were pounding the streets of London. 

He had to run a marathon as part of his challenge with the small matter of a 2.4 mile swim and 112 mile bike ride before his 26.2 mile run. 

It is hard to imagine how tired he must have felt before he started running but he managed to complete the whole thing in 12 hours five minutes and 58 seconds. Well done, superb effort, Conor.

NI & Ulster relays

This year’s NI & Ulster Relay Championships hosted by Victoria Park and Connswater AC took place on Saturday. 

With a record breaking entry of 120 teams, there was an air of excitement from mid morning as runners warmed up, found their team-mates, declared their running order and listened for the call to the start pens. 

There was also a large crowd of supporters milling around ready to line the circuit and watch the racing unfold. 

The relay is made up of teams of four runners who each run two laps of the park. A lap is just over a mile so the total per leg is 3,380m. 

As runner A crosses the mat, runner B is unleashed and so on. East Down AC had only managed to get together two teams due to other races and injury amongst other things, but those that were there soaked up the atmosphere and enjoyed being part of an exciting event. 

The EDAC ladies’ team in the masters’ race (for age 35 and over) was led out by Niamh Kellet and with a determined effort she came in tenth to hand over to Sharon Madine. 

Sharon, who seems to have the ability to turn her hand to every distance as well as race hard and often, made easy work of her stint to then pass on to Leanne Spick.

Leanne was racing the relays for the first time and clearly took heed of her more experienced running buddies, who had warned her not to overcook the first of her two laps. 

With an even pace throughout she finished strongly to allow Catherine O’Connor to break on to the course ready to see what damage she could do. 

Catherine ran the quickest leg for the team and indeed was the third quickest time in the masters’ ladies so it was no surprise that she managed to overhaul some other runners over her two laps. 

She crossed the finish line in 11.37, taking EDAC up to fifth place with her sterling efforts. 

While her speed was a useful asset, she was typically modest and quick to insist that this was a team achievement and that the end result was a sum of their combined efforts. Very well done, ladies.

The EDAC men had to enter the senior race as they were not able to get a full team of masters, so they knew that they were going to be facing tough competition.

Nevertheless they were enthusiastic about the race and each one went out with a goal of running as well as they could. 

As the pointy end of the race stretched out it became more difficult to see who was lapping who, but the loud cheers of spectators egged the runners on no matter where they were in the overall standings. 

Martin Willcox was the lead man followed by Tom McClean, Adam Morgan and Daniel Giles. 

They all completed their individual sections without mishap and while they were further down the rankings compared to the ladies, their representation of the club was no less valued. Good work, guys.

35th anniversary

A reminder to all members, ex members, friends and supporters of East Down that a dinner to celebrate 35 years since the founding of the club is due to take place on Saturday, 

November 5 in the Burrendale Hotel. 

Tickets are on sale via info@eastdownac.co.uk at the very reasonable price of £25 per head. This includes a complimentary welcome drink, a three course meal, celebration cake and entertainment. 

It would be great to have as many as possible in attendance that night to indulge in a bit of nostalgia as well as celebrate where we are now. The more the merrier as they say.