Scott Rankin and Marina Murphy strike gold at NI & Ulster 10,000m Championships!

NI & Ulster 10,000m Championships 2018 and more…

Scott Rankin (Foyle Valley AC) and Marina Murphy (Derry Track Club) lived up to expectation as they picked up gold medals at the Northern Ireland & Ulster 10,000m Championships this weekend (Sunday 5th August 2018).

The event, which took place at Meadowbank Sports Arena in Magherafelt, was held in conjunction with Round 2 of the ongoing Team Trophy competition.

Pre-race favourite NI & Ulster 10k (Road) Champion Scott Rankin looked a class act as he secured gold in the men’s race.  The Northern Ireland international led from start to finish, breaking the beam in 31:42.51 (1st place).

Omagh Harriers athlete Bernard McCullagh clocked 34:36.62 for 2nd place, with Orangegrove AC’s Andrew McIntyre taking bronze in 36:20.77 (3rd place).

In the ladies race, Derry Track Club’s Marina Murphy retained her title from 2017 with a similarly dominant performance.  Marina topped the podium after winning in 39:33.34 (1st place).  Noreen Fegan of Armagh AC collected a silver medal after a close battle with young Carmen Runners athlete Aisling Murray.  Noreen recorded 41:47.08 for 2nd place, with Aisling following in 42:00.17 (3rd place) for the bronze medal.

In the associated Team Trophy event, Lagan Valley AC increased their lead in the ladies overall standings with a joint win with their closest rivals City of Lisburn AC.  Both teams finished the day on 81 points, which now takes Lagan Valley AC to 172 points overall – City of Lisburn AC have 114 points overall.

In the men’s table, City of Lisburn (87 points) continued their dominance with a clear win on the day.  This takes them to 147 points overall, well-clear of North Down AC who have 52 points overall.

Elsewhere this weekend…

Willowfield Harriers’ Dylan McBride impressed at the Celtic Games in Scotland (Saturday 4thAugust 2018), where he represented Ireland over 1500m.

The multiple age-group Champion claimed 2nd place in the Under 16 1500m, crossing the line in 4:54.53, just over a second behind Scotland’s Ben Sandilands, who won in 4:53.50 (1st place).

At the British League fixture in Liverpool (Saturday 4th August 2018), there were podium places for three local athletes.

East Down AC’s Neil McCartan claimed 2nd place in the 1500m ‘A’ race with 3:54.80, while in the 1500m ‘B’ race, Conall Kirk (Annadale Striders) ran a personal best of 3:56.33 for 3rd place.  Chris Madden (City of Lisburn AC) finished in 3rd place over 5,000m, running 15:00.66 – in the same race (Neil Johnston (Springwell RC) clocked 15:06.79.

At the British Transplant Games in Birmingham (2nd – 5th August 2018), Northern Ireland’s Orla Smyth (City of Lisburn AC) picked up gold medals over 400m and 800m.

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