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Springwell Running Club members were out in force at parkrun venues near and far with a distinctly international feel to this week’s race results.

The Trans Gran Canaria is a race across the third largest of the Canary Islands. On Saturday, February 24 over 600 runners made their way to the start line at 8am for the “Advanced Race”, with 50 miles and over 14,000 feet of climbing over Gran Canaria’s volcanic landscape. On that start line was Springwell’s Shirhaan Hameed, a very experienced mountain runner who has run hundreds of miles in the Sperrins and the Mourne Mountains in preparation for this race.

Shirhaan rose to every challenge put before him, producing a strong and even paced run that saw him finish 249th out of 568 finishers, with a time of 14:25:20.

On Sunday (February 25) in the stunning setting of Naples, overlooked by Mount Vesuvius, Bernie Drain sported the club colours and took on the challenge of the Naples Half Marathon, finishing 3495th in a time of 3:41:28.

The start of the Trans Gran Canaria 2024. Credit Transgrancanaria

Sheila McConnell added to the club’s travelog on Sunday, with her appearance in London, at the Winter Run Cancer Research 2024 10k. This extremely popular event always attracts a huge field, and this year over 17,000 runners took part. A time of 1:01:10 from Sheila saw her finish in 9345th.

Parkrun

New Zealand is world famous for its cinematic trilogies, the Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit, and this week at the Queenstown parkrun, following on from Wanaka parkrun and Lake2Lake Trail parkrun, David O'Neill completed his own trilogy of parkrun productions in the country. In total there were 59 Springers out this weekend parkrunning at 15 different venues with a magnificent seven personal bests recorded. Kay Hack reached a magnificent quadruple century, completing her 400th parkrun as she finished this weekend’s Portrush parkrun.

Aviemore - Elaine MONTGOMERY 44:49; Derry City - Jonno JOHNSON 23:36, Bernie HANNIGAN 29:35; Belfast Victoria - Fiona PRUE 20:09; Ecos - Alan WHITE 26:16, Nicola WHITE 32:14, Liz MCLAUGHLIN 33:20 PB, Kenneth BACON 42:32.

Bernie Drain at the Naple Half Marathon. Credit Bernie Drain

Portrush - Andy WHITEFORD 19:57, Maurice WALKER 21:01, Rhys WALKER 21:28, Cathy ADAMS 23:21, George BRIEN 25:49, Mervyn THOMPSON 26:37, Mervyn ADAMS 26:43, Alan PLATT 27:31, Patricia CRAIG 27:40, Andrew WILMOT 29:40, Andrew WILSON 32:19, Patrick MAGEE 32:46, Gemma WRAY 33:07, Karen GARVIN 33:13, Alison CLARKE 34:28, Pauline DUKE 34:43, Iris WILSON 39:07, Caoimhe QUINN 40:57, Kay HACK 43:22, Reid JACK 51:22, Karen SMITH 57:39.

Ormeau - Michael MCKEOWN 33:34; Antrim - Chris DENTON 17:05; Castlewellan - Gary KENDALL 23:37; Kirkcaldy - Catherine BYERS 35:21; Limavady - Ryan GRAY 19:25 PB, John BUTCHER 19:28, David SHIELS 20:20, Brian MOORE 21:22, Kevin MCLEAN 21:58, Laura-Ann CARMICHAEL 23:45 PB, Pauline MULLAN 24:08, Adrian FINLAY 24:35, Janet PATRICK 26:05, Sinead GRAHAM 28:22, Gael BUTCHER 28:22, Linda MC MICHAEL 29:32, John MCMICHAEL 29:48.

Queenstown - David O'NEILL 19:30; Orangefield - Ali SHAW 46:17; Holy Cross College - Alison C DUNCAN 27:07, Heather MCLAUGHLIN 27:07; Knockbracken Reservoir - Colin CONNOLLY 29:53; Garvagh Forest - Rodney MC PHEE 19:10, Reggie COLVILLE 21:40 PB, Deborah MC PHEE 24:20 PB, Michael MULVENNA 24:53, Majella MCATEER 25:34, Mariette MULVENNA 28:36, Sonya COLVILLE 31:10 PB, Julie CORBETT 31:33 PB.

Springwell athletes in action all over the world