On Sunday 18^th March some 55 members met in Conway Square for bright but bitterly cold “fun” run, the numbers swelled due to the postponement of the Jimmy’s 10K race in Downpatrick that morning because of overnight snowfall. Great running by all from 5k to beyond half marathon distances and great business for a nearby café too.

The weather on St. Patrick’s Day was more kind so the Spar Craic 10K proceed as planned in Belfast. The unique race saw around 2000 take to the streets of the city on the morning of March 17 leaving City Hall at 9am, linking West and East Belfast as the route passes through the Gaeltacht and Cathedral Quarters before finishing at Titanic Slipways.
We had ten entrants, with Chris Green the first to finish in 43 minutes 57 seconds, followed by Olli Seeger, Jonathan Keenan and Scot Knight. Angie Crone was the club’s first lady finisher in a few seconds over the hour, followed by Denise Knight, Karen Hewitt, Rhonda Magowan, Steven Craythorne and Erin Donnelly. Well done all.

The Saturday Parkruns remained as popular as ever for the Club, with 1^st and 2^nd places claimed at Comber by Curtis McCaw and Jared Martin, closely followed by Justin Clegg. Connor McNamara recorded a new personal best time (PB) of just under 23 minutes for the 5K course followed by Nigel Martin, Mark Halus, Wendy Thompson (PB), Amanda Martin, Nicola McNamara Ashley Gilliland (PB), Grace Pollock (PB), Eileen Pollock, Toni Kisimova and finally Simon Hodge running the Comber circuit for the first time.

At Stormont Parkrun Paul Sheldon was the first Scrabo Strider to finish in a new PB time of 20:13, followed in by Shannon Clegg, Lynn Sheldon, Mick Honeyman, Suzanne Dines, Kathryn Chesney (PB), Paul Moore, Nicola Honeyman, Christine Kirkwood (PB) and first-timer Rex McCormick. Well done all.

At Ward Park in Bangor the first Strider finisher was Jonny Kinney in just under 22 minutes followed by Barry Tate, Carol Bailie and Stacey Andrews. Meanwhile David and Liz Turton represented the Club at Queen’s Parkrun for the first time while Mark Leathem completed the 5K at Victoria Park in East Belfast.

We are proud and excited to announce the club’s first open race. On Friday 27^th April at 6:00 pm the first “Run the Runways” races will take place at Newtownards Airfield. Comprising a 5K, a 10K and a kids 1K race the perfectly flat, unique personal best course is sure to appeal to runners of all ages and abilities. Distances are officially measured and runners will be chip-timed. Registration is now open via the Athletics NI website, with an early bird deal until mid march. Hope to see you there!