It’s been a busy week from Parkruns to mountains. The Hill and Dale mountain trail running series continued on Thursday evening with race 5, Rocky, which saw over 250 runners descend upon Leitrim Lodge Car Park for the annual haul into the hills of one of most picturesque parts of the Mourne Mountains. Three members ran with Jared Martin first to finish in 35:47 followed by Simon Hodge in 38:44 and Nigel Martin in 49:55.

On Wednesday evening the annual Ballybeen 5K took place in Dundonald where Scrabo were represented by five ladies. Andrea Cairns was the first club finisher in just under 28 minutes followed by Catherine Lavery, Karen Hewitt, Rebekah Smith and Jasmine Geddis. Well done girls!

Also during the week the 27th Les Jones Memorial 10K race took place in Belfast, attracting just short of 400 competitors. Starting in the Mary Peter’s track the race route went along the Lagan towpath before climbing the Barnett’s Demesne hill on the way to the finish line. The first Scrabo Strider to finish was Colin Harper in 45:12 followed Manny Farrelly and Connor McNamara. The Club’s first lady finisher was Kerri Anderson in 48:02 followed by Justin Clegg, Mark Leathem, Nicola McNamara and Erin Donnelly. Great effort all round.

At other events Rachel Tully ran the Knockevin Special School 10K race on Saturday while Rex McCormick completed the Liverpool Rock ‘n’ Roll Half Marathon on Sunday, part of a series of marathons and half marathons where music is the core. The committee would like to thank you for representing your Club so well.

The usual Saturday Parkruns continued with Curtis McCaw picking up an overall 1^st place at Parkway, Comber having finished in a fantastic 19:05. He was followed in by fellow Striders Linda Dugan, Robert Neill, Robin Adams and Deborah Allen. At Victoria in east Belfast Jared Martin recorded a new personal best (PB) time of 17:51 over the 5km course followed by Nigel Martin, Andy Boal, Amanda Martin (PB) and Liz Turton.

At Ormeau Park Mark Leathem was the first Strider to finish in a time of 23:57 followed by Connor McNamara, Mick Honeyman, Paul Moore and Nicola McNamara all of whom ran this course for the first time. At Stormont Olli Seeger crossed the line in 23:49 followed by Caroline Dwyer, Martin McKeaveney, Jonathan Keenan and Catherine Lavery.

George Cash represented the Club at the Bangor Parkrun, completing in 27:32 while further afield Paul and Lynn Sheldon took male and female second place at the Chateau de Pierre de Bresse parkrun in eastern France.

Another great week’s running by members, well done!