Round the Springs, Helping Alopecia Trust
On Friday 5thJuly the Helping Alopecia Trust (HAT) held its 2019 “Round the Springs” 5 km and 10 km road race, fun run and walk. The charity raises funds to support families affected by Alopecia and increases awareness about the condition among the general public. The course through the town and surrounding countryside provided some great views of Strangford Lough and the weather was cloudy and humid, sometimes challenging for runners.
Local running club Scrabo Striders had 97 athletes enter. In the 10K event the first club member across the line was Peter Kerr in a fantastic 43 minutes 39 seconds and for the ladies Lesley Semple in 47:06; fantastic times. Next in was Graeme McGowan, Simon Gay, Colin Harper and Christopher Murdock all in under 47 minutes. With by far the biggest club representation at the event next came Gary Hunsdale, Mark Arnold, Connor McNamara and Paul Morrow in under 50 minutes.
Completing a second lap to finish in under 52 minutes were Ross Caughers, Paul Blair, Leanne Campbell and Kerri Anderson followed by Stuart Blair, Paul Kirkwood, Julie Longridge, George McGonigal, Dawn ross and Charlie Allen. Also completing the 10K were Gordon McEwan, Jonathan Keenan, Gareth Robson, Ashley Gilliland, Robin Adams, Hector Adair and Nicola McNamara.
Seventy Striders took part in the 5K race where Curtis McCaw took overall 4th place in a blistering 17 minutes 46 seconds followed by Norman Mawhinney in 11th place in 18:58. Tim McEwan was the next Strider to finish in 19:49 followed by peter McGonigal, Paul Sheldon, Gordon Coutts, David Turton and Charlie Allen (Jnr) all in under 23 minutes.
In under 25 minutes came Olli Seeger, Emma Clements, Kurtis Hunter, Gary Clarke, Lynn Sheldon, John Brown, Kieran McNamara, Barbara McKechnie and Liz Turton. With great support in both Greayabbey town and on the country roads the next Scrabo Striders to finish were Linda Dugan, Caroline Dwyer, Rachel Patterson, Tim Mahood, Ethan Lappin, Karl Henderson, Ian Edwards and Lyndsey Lappin all in under 28 minutes, while Bobby and Lynn McGonigal made Greayabbey 5K their first ever road race. Well done all.
Scrabo Striders Running Club committee would like to thank the Helping Alopecia Trust for giving us the opportunity to do what we love to do, run, as well as help raise money for a great cause. A big thanks to the Police and Marshals for keeping things under control and to a field packed full of sheep that were extremely vocal on the second lap!
Even with all this running activity the purple shirts still put on a good show atthe Saturday Parkruns, where Curtis McCaw took overall 1st place in 18 minutes 5 seconds for the 5 km distance at Comber, while wife Thomas Forstyhe recorded a new personal best time of 26:34 at Stormont. Training paying off indeed. In other running Scrabo fielded a ladies and gents team at the Delamont Country Park 5 x 5km relays.
by George McGonigal, photo Johnny Wray
