Northern Ireland Running

Good to see Kenny, Robin, HMM, Leek, JMcC, Rodney and Mags today.

Managed to PB by just under 20 seconds and runn sub 35:30(just) so happy with that.

Good running today guys some great times.

It was good to meet a few of you today. Mags are you going for the 100 in the year?

I managed a seasons best and a negative split for the second race in a row. Felt not too bad until the 9K then felt myself weavering a wee bit in the last K. I was a bit dizzy after the finish but recovered. I'm glad I ran now. I hope to get a couple of Parkruns coming up to Christmas and then give Race Over the Glens a bash.

There was an issue with the times last year as well. ChampionChip are at the top of their game when they're given a chance; you should see how slick they are in more complex races such as triathlons. From what I saw yesterday, they did their best under the circumstances and the race organisers need to take their comments on board..

I'm pleased myself with the race. I managed to keep HMM 's '40 at 40' shirt in my sights, until the last few hundred metres anyway, and improved my time by about 45 secs. The best thing about the race for me though is catching up again with people. It's such a big event in the road racing calender... everyone seems to be there, it's a pity the Council can't open up a room afterwards and lay on a few refreshments during the prize giving (as Ards do for their half marathon in June)..

I got up this morning for a run, but the ground looks too icy here at the moment.

really enjoyed the race on saturday, brilliant conditions for it in my opinion, good lot of support and liked the laps, so that you knew what was to come in the last mile or so, great to see such a good turnout as well,  - surprised myself going 3 minutes faster than  previous in bangor of this year, so a good way to end the road running year

One of our girls didn't appear in the results. She was disappointed as she had ran a PB. Glenn was very helpful and managed to trace her at the start 1500m, 5K but not at 8.5K and 10K. He thought she may have lost her chip but she hadn't as she still had it after forgetting to give it back. I sent him a pic of her at the last corner. He found her on the video and was fit to slot her home.

With so many runners and such a short time to setup there are always going to be difficulties. I'm not sure how starting in the Leisure Centre Car Park would work with the left turn so close to the start.

I went out yesterday morning at 8.00 am cold and the roads were icy I managed to get 8 miles done but the legs were heavy.

Alwyn, I was about 4 paces behind the mats and started my watch as I stepped on the mat and my time and race time matched exactly. Hamstring was giving me trouble so I had a massage before the race which helped a bit. Felt it right from the start but thought if I kept a steady pace without aggravating it I would be ok. On the little downhill section just before going out of the park onto the main road for the last time it started to tighten a bit more. From this point I eased back and shortened my stride. Approaching the finish I then added a bit of pace to get in under the 41minutes, which tweked the hamstring again but no real damage done. Actually felt fresh at the finish, rather than the usual coughing and thinking i would be sick. Steady pace seemed to help and maybe without the injury i would have been closer to 40minutes but who knows.

Alwyn were you wearing a bandana ? Think I picked you out in the photos.

Yes, Rodney, that was me with the bandana - terrible look, I know, but I have to keep the sweat from blinding me!

Sounds like you managed your hamstring concern well during the race and you had 'something in hand' alright.

I started my watch as I crossed the startline mat and stopped it within a second or two of crossing the finish mats. My watch timed it at 42:14. My Gun time is given as 42:16. A clubmate who crossed the startline alonside me had a Chip time 9s under her Gun time. Either way, I know I just missed out on getting under 42:00 but I did beat my PB of 42:27. I'm accepting 42:16 as my new PB and that's the time written on my race number and pinned on my PB wall chart!

As commented upon by others, Glenn from championchip clearly did his best in testing circumstances and as Kenny's post testifies, he tries his best to be helpful with any anomalies.

After the awful weather we awoke to, sun shining now in Lisburn and I'm looking forward to a nice 4.5m recovery run at lunchtime.

The Seeley is a tough one at the start. I don't think you could bring people into the car park. It works at the laganside but I started front row at laganside and there was nothing like the pushing and shoving there was on saturday. I think it's all the club runners trying to push to the front but it's like being in a cattle market followed by a 100 metre dash (more like half a k to be honest) to get position and perhaps not viable to bring it to the car park due to that. I did the great ireland run with a lot more people earlier in the year and even that was nowhere near as bad.

Well done on your PB Alwyn and good running all you other guys. Irrespective of not breaking 42 if that was your target Alwyn it will be there for again no doubt.

East down have videos of pretty much every finisher on youtube which I guess is a good way of tracking people who were deemed not to have finished when they did.

TG I think Glenn had a video on the line. Probably as a back up. If they started in the car park were would people park.

Because it's a championship race all the top guns are at the front looking to get a good start. When you see how close the team race was dropping one or two place can make a difference.

Glenn said in his email to me that the PSNI only turned up at 2.20pm to close the road, were only able to stop the traffic from 2.25pm and the problems stemmed from this lack of time to get set up. I don't know the regulations surrounding road closures, whether the organisers had asked for earlier closure or the PSNI were late/unable to close as planned? Sounds like the starter was under pressure to get the race underway and wouldn't allow Glenn any more time to complete set-up. Persumably this pressure stemmed from need to have road shut for as short a time as possible? Would a short delay to the 'gun' really have mattered? I was that inwardly focussed, I didn't notice what happened after everyone had run down to the Ormeau Bridge first time - was the road open again 'as normal' to 2-way traffic or to one-way only? I know we were marshalled to the LHS of the road but didn't notice what was happening with the traffic - so much for being aware of your surroundings! And I wasn't wearing earphones!

Alwyn, I think the road was reopened to 2 way traffic shortly after we all went into the park following the start. I noticed traffic in both directions when I came out of the park on the first lap. There were several cars parked on the cycle lane there which pushed us out into the road in the way of traffic.

http://www.athleticsni.org/Fixtures/Griddle-10k-Road-Race

A scenic rural 10k through the County Down countryside.....usual East Down hospitality afterwards.