New world best parkrun time of 13:44 set in Belfast

Nick Griggs completed the Victoria Park 5k parkrun in Belfast on Sat 9th Nov 2024 to set a new world best time for a parkrun. 

The 19-year old runner from Tyrone completed the 5k course in a time of 13m 44s beating the previous fastest time of 13:45 set by Andy Butchart at Edinburgh’s parkrun last June.

Last December, Irish international athlete Ciara Mageean set the women's parkrun record on the same course, running the distance in a time of of 15:13.

Results of the Irish 24-hour championships in Belfast - Sun 17th Oct 2021

The 2021 Belfast 24-hour race was held last weekend and this was also the Irish 24-hour championships.

There were 99 contestants in the 24 hour event with an impressive 33 going over the 100-mile mark.

The first man was Ed McGroarty who completed 256.57kms in the 24 hours which will be a new national record once confirmed. In a previous post, I had a report of how Ed had run from Mizen to Malin in a new record time last July.

From a Cork point of view, Aidan Hogan of Rising Sun AC put in another impressive performance to finish in second spot to take a national Silver medal.

Alex O'Shea of St Finbarrs AC finished in 5th place just three weeks after completing the 250km Spartathlon in Greece!

Thanks to John O'Regan for the following photos...

Belfast 24hr & Irish Championship - Men

1. Ed McGroarty (Lifford /Strabane AC) - 256.57Km (TBC as *NR)
2. Aidan Hogan (Rising Sun AC) -243.36Km
3. Keith Russell (Navan AC)- 232.67Km
* National Record

Belfast 24hr & Irish Championship - Women
1. Aoife Mundow (Drogheda & District AC) - 211.76Km
2. Lorraine McMahon (Wexford Marathon Club)- 206.81Km
3. Joanne Rice (Navan AC)- 186.9Km

2021 National Marathon Championships are to be held in Belfast in October

Athletics Ireland announced today that the 2021 National Marathon Championships will be held in Belfast this year on the 3rd of October. 

Normally it is part of the Dublin City Marathon but that event had to be cancelled this year.

In a news release, Athletics Ireland said... 

"We are delighted to be working with Athletics Northern Ireland and the Deep RiverRock Belfast City Marathon in hosting the 2021 National Senior Marathon Championships on Sunday October 3rd.

There will be 100 male and 100 female National Championship entries available, and expressions of interest is now sought from athletes who have acquired suitable times over the last 3 years.

The form must be completed by Thursday 19th August 2021.

Runners already entered in the Deep RiverRock Belfast City Marathon will have the opportunity to be included in the National Championships at a later date.

The price of registration is £63."

See link... https://www.athleticsireland.ie/news/2021-national-marathon-championships/

A closer look at the Grant Thornton series of 5k races...

Following on from the recent Grant Thornton 5k in Cork and the follow up comments, I decided to have a closer look so that runners can get a better overview of the event and what it's all about.

The first Grant Thornton 5k started in the Dublin docklands back in 2012 and grew to over 4,500 finishers in 2015. Since then, the numbers have eased back a bit but it still gets over 4000 finishers. The 2018 edition will be in September of this year.

Grant Thornton 5k in Dublin

With an entry fee of €100 to €120 for a team of four, at least €100,000 is taken in race fees so it's not an insignificant amount of money.

Contrary to what some people might think, this isn't a charity event. A lot of events like this have what is termed a 'charity partner' and some of the proceeds go towards that charity. The Grant Thornton event is organised by Athletics Ireland and is their way of raising funds from the running boom. While there are hundreds of club races around the country, very little of the money generated finds its way back to Athletics Ireland in Dublin.

Traditionally, inter club races have been organised by Athletics Ireland registered clubs while inter firm road races have been organised by the Business Houses Athletic Association... the BHAA in Dublin and the Cork BHAA locally. The Grant Thornton 5k series is Athletics Ireland's version of inter-firm road races.

The purpose and ethos of their respective races are different and this can be seen in the entry fees.

The BHAA events are designed to have a reasonable entry fee (€5 reg / €10 non-reg), refreshments afterwards and a full prize structure with categories and teams. The Grant Thornton races cost around €20 to €25 per runner and are designed to raise as much money as possible.

In the BHAA events, it's the individual who is paying the entry fee where as with the Grant Thornton events, the company will probably be footing the bill in a lot of cases.

Following on from the success of the Dublin event, other  Grant Thornton 5k races have popped up as shown below...

A 5k was tried at the National Sports Centre in Dublin 2015 & 2016 but the numbers were poor. Probably good enough for a general race but not big enough to raise funds.

The Cork version began in 2015 and had 834 finishers that year. It has dipped a bit since and got 784 this year.

The Belfast version started in 2017 and got 562 runners. The 2018 race is coming up at the end of June.

A new Grant Thornton race was started in Galway this year and had 348 finishers.

Taken all together, the Grant Thornton series of 5k races in 2018 will probably generate in the region of €120,000 - €130,000 in entry fees. Once the costs of organising the event and the charity contribution are accounted for, the funds generated for Athletics Ireland will obviously be just a percentage of this.

It's probably fair to say that a lot of the entry fees paid by the corporate sector is 'new money' as such and would not have made its way into the running scene otherwise. These type of events won't appeal to everyone but they are now part of the overall running scene.

Video on the IAU 24HR World Championships in Belfast

The 2017 24 Hour World Championships were held last July in Belfast with teams from all over the world competing.

It also doubled up as the Irish 24 hour championships with Eoin Keith from Cobh setting a new national record to take Gold.

A new video of the event is now available. See below....

A closer look at the number of 5k parkruns in Cork, Dublin & Belfast

Following on from a previous post about the new proposed public park on Haulbowline Island, I had a closer look at the number of parkruns in Cork, Dublin and Belfast. It's easy to say how many there are but sometimes an image shows the real differences.

With this in mind, I have three maps below all on the same scale showing the number of parkruns in the three Irish cities.

Cork...As can be seen from the image below, there really is only one 5k parkrun near Cork City and that is of course in Ballincollig. What is not shown on the map is that the next one to the east is way down in Tramore in Co.Waterford and the next one to the north is in the University of Limerick.

 

Report on the Irish 24 Hour Championships...by Alex O'Shea

Cork runner Alex O'Shea ran a staggering 150 miles in the Irish 24 Hour Championships in Belfast last weekend.  This is his report on the event...


Belfast 24hr... it has been amazing.
I finished and that's an achievement in its own at this kind of event.
Last year I had been sick the week before the event so felt I under performed & as it was my first time I made things hard for myself not knowing very much about it & had to walk at times but managed to recover some what and achieve the Irish Selection Standard.

This year was a different story it was not just an open race & national championships it was also to play host to the world championships.

I had hoped to get called up to the Irish Team but narrowly missed out. So I focused on the races that were open to me the open race, national championships & world age category.

So a year on I was back I was injury free feeling good & had learned some lessons the hard way last year. Ok with only 1 24hr event under my belt I certainly wasn't an expert but I was learning things fast. This year instead of being the new guy making all the mistakes I was more confident & felt I could do better that's not to say I didn't make mistakes or can't improve, and it was great to see the best athletes in the world perform & learn from them as the event also hosted the world championships.

Cork runners dominate Irish 24 hour championships

The Irish 24 Hour Championships were held in Victoria Park in Belfast over the weekend and this year, it also doubled up as the World 24 Hour Championships.

In the Irish Championships, Eoin Keith from Cobh won Gold with 153 miles, just short of the national record of 248.982K / 154.xx Miles set by Thomas Maguire in Monaco in 2009.

Alex O'Shea of St.Finbarr's AC was the third Irish man home to win a national Bronze medal in this event. What's also impressive is that Alex finished ahead of plenty of other runners who were part of the official Irish team.

Update...27th July 2017...The original results were off due to a timing error. Eoin Keith set a new national record while Alex O'Shea in fact won Silver.

Alex just missed out on the standard to be part of the team last year but has obviously improved a lot on the last 12 months.

Entries now open for Irish 24 hour championships in Belfast

The IAU 24 Hour World Championships for 2017 will be held in Victoria Park, Belfast on July 1st/2nd 2017.

Due to the demand from International athletes, places are limited for Irish athletes. There will be 100 places available and a waiting list will be started then.

Entries opened at 6pm on Mon 12th December.

The entry fee is £75. To enter, go HERE

11:20pm...Entries are now closed. All 100 places sold out in about 3 hours. Contact the organisers to get on the waiting list... ( ed_n_smith AT hotmail DOTcom ).

Additional notes...
1) The Open race will take place alongside the World Championships and it starts at 12 noon.
2) There will not be a 12 hour, 100km or Team relay in 2017 due to the numbers.

Belfast to Host 24 Hour World Championships in 2017

It has just been announced that Belfast will host the 24 Hour World Championships in July of 2017. The last 24 Hour World Championships were held in Italy in April 2015 and attracted 300 runners from all over the World (177 men & 123 women).

In recent years, the Irish 24 Hour Championships have been held on the Mary Peters Track in Belfast. This year, it will be moved to Victoria Park in East Belfast where there runners will use a loop that is just under 1.7kms in length.

Victoria Park is located between the George Best Belfast City Airport and the old Harland and Wolff dockyards. There is a 5km parkrun there every Saturday morning and attacts about 100-300 people.

Here is the anouncement from the IAU (International Association of Ultrarunners)...
Belfast has been selected to host the next 24 Hour World Championships in 2017.  The bid presented by this Northern Ireland city was very strong and the Local Organizing Committee have started work to host the event next year. The 24 Hour championships will take place July 1st and 2nd in Victoria Park in East Belfast. We wish the LOC the very best of luck as they progress towards the organization of the event. As we get closer to the event we will present more information. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact us...Nadeem Khan, Director of Communications

Here is what it looks like on the ground...

This is an international event which will have teams from all over the world representing their country. There will also be an Irish team and their selection will probably depend on the results of the Irish 24 hour championships at the end of June 2016. It's also likely though that this will be an open competition with anyone able to take part.

Update from the organisers......."The 12th IAU 24-Hr World Championships are on their way to Belfast next year,2017. They'll be held in Victoria Park on July 1 and 2.
There is the potential for 300 athletes from 50 nations to take part. The Irish championships will still be on; and there will also be an Open race with 100 places available.
It kind of makes this June's Energia24 important as a dress rehearsal for 2017!
Thanks to everyone for their support and help in building the race up and getting us to these dizzy heights.
The Championships was launched in the Park this morning with Irish internationals Ruthann Sheahan and John O'Regan making the long journeys up to help Belfast's Lord Mayor get the build-up started. Just 500 days to go! "

Visually impaired athlete Sinead Kane from Cork finishes 2nd in Belfast 12 hour Ultra

Last weekend (Fri 17th & Sat 18th July 2015), the Energia 12 and 24 Hour Race was held at the Mary Peter's track in Belfast. Both races started at 6:45pm on Friday evening with the 12 hour contestants finishing at 6:45am on Saturday morning. The 24 hour runners finished at 6:45pm on Saturday evening.

Sinead Kane with her guide runner John O'Regan

In the 12 hour race, Sinead Kane from Youghal, Co.Cork finished in second place with an hugely impressive total of 68.3 miles. That works out as 10m 32s minute mile pace which includes any stops.

To put that into context, it's the same as starting from Patrick Street in Cork City and running to O'Connell Street in Limerick City and then adding on another 8 miles.

Pace wise, it's the same as doing two 4:36 marathons back to back without a rest and then doing an extra 16 miles!

Apart from the physical fitness, it's obvious that to complete such a distance requires a huge amount of determination and mental discipline. You need to be able to run to what feels like the point of exhaustion and then beyond into the unknown.

These are some of the notable dates in Sinead's running career so far...
1) 2012...Starts running and completes first 10k
2) June 2014...Completes the Cork City Half-Marathon in 1h 49m
3) Oct 2014...Completes the Dublin City Marathon in 4h 01m. First visually impaired female runner to complete the Dublin City Marathon.
4) Feb 2015...Completes the Donadea 50k in 4h 52m. First Irish visually impaired runner to complete an Ultra-Marathon.
5) Mar 2015...Completes the Tralee Marathon in 3h 55m.
6) July 2015...2nd woman in the Belfast 12 hour. First visually impaired runner to take part in event.

Sinead's guide for the 12 hour race was John O'Regan who has represented Ireland on several occasions in International 24 hour races.

As locations go, it is a stunning location with the track hemmed in on two sides by a large embankment and surrounded by woodland.

As well as Sinead, there were a number of other runners from Cork in action there as well.

In the 12 hour race, John Hallahan of Leevale AC completed 53.7 miles.

In the 24 hours race, Eoin Keith who is originally from Cork finished in first place with 141.9 miles covered (228.4kms). Eddie Gallen was second with 222.566kms. Both Eoin and Eddie achieved the IAAF B standard of 220kms for a 24 hour race.

Other Cork runners in the results were Grellan McGrath of Eagle AC who completed 103.1 miles, his second time breaking the 100 mile barrier after winning the Connemara 100 mile back in 2013.

And finally but certainly not least, Jerry Forde completed 55.6 miles. He was the first wheelchair athlete to take part in the Belfast 24 hour race.

Photos...
1) NI Running have 2 albums...#1 & #2

Grellan McGrath from Cork wins Belfast 12 hour race

The Energia 12 and 24 hour race was held at the Mary Peters track in Belfast last weekend, the 18th and 19th of July. Starting at 6:45pm on Friday evening, contestants had to run multiple laps of the 400m track with the 12 hour runners finishing at 6:45am on Saturday morning and the 24 hour runners finishing on Saturday evening.

Grellan McGrath of Eagle AC in Cork won the 12 hour race when he completed 315 laps which is equal to 81.25 miles or 130.7kms.

Grellan, who lives in Ballincollig is no stranger to Ultra races having won the Connemara 100 mile back in July 2013.

More details can be seen on the Eagle AC website.

British & Irish Masters Cross Country...Sat 10th Nov 2012

The British and Irish Masters Cross Country International was held in Belfast last Saturday, the 10th of November. Included in the Irish team were Carmel Parnell (Leevale AC), Carmel Crowley (Bandon AC), Mary Sweeney (St.Finbarr's AC) from Cork and Niamh O'Sullivan (An Riocht AC) from Kerry.

Carmel Parnell won the W55 category while Niamh O'Sullivan was second in the W50. It would also seem as if the womens race was not without controversy as Ireland's Barbara Cleary stopped just short of the finish line having thought that she had finished. She had been well clear of the other runners in the last lap. A despondent Cleary crossed the line in 21:36 to take 3rd place.

Saturday November 11
British and Irish Masters' Cross-Country International, Queen's Playing Fields,  Belfast.
Women...1 Claire Martin (Eng) 21.21, 2 Julie Turley (N Ire) 21.34, 3 Barbara Cleary (Ire) 21.36. Categories -  W35: Claire Martin (Eng). W40: Jackie Carthy (Ire). W45: Philippa Taylor. W50: 1 Fiona Matheson (Eng), 2 Niamh O'Sullivan (Ire). W55: 1 Carmel Parnell (Ire). W60: Janice Neeham (Eng). W65: Dot Fellows (Eng).
Men...M35-45- 1 Andy Morgan Lee (Eng, M40) 26.55, 2 Ciaran Doherty (Ire, M35) 26.59, 3 Stephen Duncan (N Ire, M35) 27.00. M50-55: 1 Graeme Saker (Eng) 27.22; 2 Deon McNeilly (N Ire) 27.25; 3 Tommy Payne (Ire) 27.32.  Categories-  M35: Doherty.  M40: Lee. M45?; M50: 1 Saker, 2 McNeilly, 3 Payne. M55: Davis Butler (Eng). M60: Mike Hager (Eng).
Open races - Women...1 Jo Coates (St Edmund's,  Eng) 23.23; 2 Gillian Carr (Clydesdale Hrs, Sco) 24.16; 3 Maureen McCarthy ( W Suffolk, Eng) 24.50; 4 Shileen O'Kane (Lagan Valley, NI) .  
Men...1 David McNeilly (Newcastle, NI) 28.52; 2 Stephen Smith (Preston, Eng) 28.58; 3 Greg Lavery (Larne AC, NI) 29.13. 

The full results can be seen HERE

TV Highlights of the Irish Indoor Athletics Championships

The Irish Indoor Athletics Championships were held in Belfast on the weekend of Sat 11th/Sun12th of February 2012. The highlights are now available on the RTE Player service HERE until the 5th of March.

Index of programme...2:00 Womens 400m // 3:50 Mens 400m // 7:50 Mens 5k walk (Rob Heffernan) // 9:07 Womens 5k walk // 9:40 Womens long jump // 10:37 Womens Pole Vault // 10:45 Mens 3k // 13:00 Womens 1500m // 17:00 Mens 1500m // 24:16 Mens 60m hurdles // 25:40 Womens 60m hurdles (Derval O'Rourke) // 30:00 Womens 60m // 31:06 Mens 60m // 34:00 Womens 200m // 37:00 Mens 200m // 40:00 Mens 800m // 43:55 Womens 800m

Video clip from the Belfast 24 hour...

This was the second year of this 24 hours race in Belfast and numbers were up on the first event. 47 individuals took part with 18 managing to break the 100 mile mark.

More details and results in this post.

Meanwhile, here is video clip to give you a feel of what it's like...

Belfast 24h Ultra Race...22nd July 2011

First...a quick course preview....dead flat....no hills......incredibly accurate....loop course....plenty of other runners on the route......it sounds perfect........except for a few 'minor' details.

The 'course' is the Mary Peters 400 metre sports track in Belfast......and you basically run around in circles for as long as you can.............and the race is 24 hours long!

This will be the 2nd year of this event. Last year, four athletes went beyond 100 miles with 17 going over 80 miles. The event was won by Fermanagh’s Thomas Maguire with a distance of 127 miles.

If anyone is interested, then for further information or an entry form contact: Ed Smith on 00447740818389 or at ed_n_smith@hotmail.com

WARNING...This video contains images of crazy people ;o)