On Wednesday 4th December, EAMS (East Antrim Marathon Series) held a 6 Hour Challenge Run. The idea being how far can you run in 6 hours. The course was a 4.2 mile loop from Loughshore to Gideon’s Green. Donna Cleary ran for 5 and a half hours, covering 35 miles while Colin Campbell ran marathon distance (26.2 miles) in 4 hours 34mins. Incidentally, Colin had also run a marathon the previous Wednesday, the 27th November. The Clive Nesbitt Birthday marathon was held in Armagh. Colin completed in 4 hours 56 minutes. He has now completed a total of 19 marathons in 2019 alone. What an accomplishment!
A number of runners had planned to travel to Cookstown on Saturday to the annual Mighty Oaks cross country race. However the event was postponed on Saturday due to the sudden death of Mr Irwin Speirs. He was a founding member of Acorns Athletics Club as well as a highly esteemed coach and runner and did a lot to enrich the local running community in Mid Ulster. As a club, we wish to extend our sympathy to Irwin’s family, The MUSA Parkrun community and Acorns AC.
The sunnier climes of Lanzarote attracted many NI runners to the running festival on Saturday 7th December. Valerie Martin, club secretary enjoyed a long weekend in Costa Teguise and even had time to fit in the half marathon!! Well done Valerie.
Back home, it was beginning to ‘look a lot like Christmas’! Club members Stevie Watterson and Catherine Lavery both completed the 5k Jingle All the Way at Stormont Estate. Violet Davidson also completed a 5k Santa Run in the grounds of Campbell College, Belfast in aid of the Children’s Heartbeat Trust.