Annual Club Charity Run

Report by John T Glover

Despite the efforts of Storm Eowyn to  destroy the Annual Lagan Valley Charity run through the idyllic Barnett’s Demesne the only obstacle left to trouble the runners/walkers at the rearranged event was a large tree partially blocking the trail. This proved to be no problem and was easily surmounted by a little bit of Limbo dancing.

Unfortunately the change of date and the clash with Half Term reduced the original entry by almost a half  but one again the generosity of the Sky Blue and Navy family was evident with a vast collection of prizes and a sizeable sum of money raised for our chosen Chairty CRY.

Thanks to Glenn Grant and Championchip once again this year everyone was chip timed although the ankle straps rather than bib numbers did cause confusion for some. The pre-arranged running order went somewhat awry with at least the first two waves heading off together.  The age range of those taking part was from 5 to over 75.

Thanks to some great volunteers the course was well Marshalled and Ambutran were in attendance but thankfully had a very quiet time.  The course was in great condition with very little mud to contend with. For those who were  new to the course, and had not done a recce, the climb from the river up to the Queens parkrun course came as a bit of a surprise.

First to show back on the track were the one lappers, covering around 2.7k. They were led home by Euan Kelly in an impressive 11.23 with Adam Hanna not far behind and also under 12 minutes. Isabel Fallis was equally impressive in taking the girls honours in 12.56 ahead of Ruby McNeill.

It was apparent from the start that some of our young elite were not taking things too seriously which considering their amazing exploits in recent weeks and the forthcoming Schools Championships this was to be expected. Having said that there were still four sub 20 minute performances over a very challenging course.  Stephen Lyster and Noel Kavanagh crossed the line together but it appeared that Noah had given Stephen a one second head start and so he got first choice of the extremely valuable prize list. Noah made full use of the opportunity providing himself with an early Easter Egg!!!!

The battle for female honours was hard fought with Heather Scullion, Catriona Donaldson, Suzie Cave, and Liz Dawson sub 25 mins with Heather taking the spoils in 24.04.