Conor continues progress in Ballymena run

THERE were 197 athletes in action as Ballymena Runners hosted their inaugural Fairhill 5 mile town centre road race last Wednesday evening.
By The Newsroom
Published 17th Jun 2012, 13:00 BST
Fit N Running athlete Shaun Friel enjoys a well earned ice cream aftercompeting in the Fairhill 5mile road race.Fit N Running athlete Shaun Friel enjoys a well earned ice cream aftercompeting in the Fairhill 5mile road race.
Fit N Running athlete Shaun Friel enjoys a well earned ice cream aftercompeting in the Fairhill 5mile road race.

There was a double home town victory on the night as Ballymena & Antrim athlete Jarlath Falls claimed a well deserved victory in 26min 3secs in the main event with Fit N Running’s gifted schoolboy Conor McQuillan taking the honours in the Junior/Fun run section.

Fit N Running had five athletes in action in Ballymena who contributed to a successful week for the fledgling local club as they recorded 3 podium finishes and posted 5 personal best performances in three separate events.

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Mark McKinstry who claimed a top ten finish at Tardree Forest on Tuesday evening was in action 24 hours later in Ballymena and showed no ill effects as he finished in 38th place in 31mins 40secs.

The hard running Peter Drennan claimed a 1min 4sec improvement on his previous best for the distance as he finished in 35mins 25secs in 52nd place.

Next home was Lesley Doyle who stretched her incredible run of Personal Best performances at all distances to 15 months with yet another P.B showing, this time clipping 8 secs of her previous best to finish in 9th place in 37mins 20secs.

Shaun Friel was making his debut at the 5 mile distance on his first outing since the Belfast Marathon finished in 38mins 38secs to take 88th place.

Bringing the group home was Andrew Sands in 47mins 37secs.

CRAIGAVON 5K

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Also in action on Wednesday evening was Paula Wallace who had ran a 49sec 5k P.B five days earlier. She produced another big improvement as she claimed a fantastic 3rd place finish at the Craigavon 5k. This time she finished in 22mins 43secs marking a massive 55secs improvement.

TARDREE FOREST

In addition to Mark McKinstry’s top ten finish in 21mins 28secs Club coach Gregory Walsh continued on the comeback trail with a 2nd place finish at Tardree in 19mins 9secs.

NEWRY HALF MARATHON

Gareth Atkinson ran his second half marathon of the year in Newry and produced a fine performance as he recorded an impressive 4mins 4sec improvement on his previous best for the distance.

Related topics:Ballymena