Weekly Race Report - 25th May 2025
Edinburgh Marathon
Spring Marathon season continued with the annual Edinburgh Marathon Festival taking place at the weekend, which included races for junior athletes and adults from 1.5km up to the full marathon distance.
Five Springwell Runners made to trip across to Edinburgh for the weekend, with one competing in the 10k race and four running the marathon. The 10k falls on the Saturday of the Edinburgh Marathon Festival weekend and is run in the stunning surroundings of Holyrood Park. This route offers panoramic views of the city and Edinburgh Castle.
The marathon takes place on the Sunday morning, beginning in the city and taking in many of Edinburgh’s landmarks before leaving the city for the East Lothian coastline.
Shirley McGaffin got Springwell’s participation in the Marathon Festival Weekend off to a start on Saturday with the 10k, where she ran a super personal best 1:16:17. It was then time for the others to finish their carb load and get the final preparations completed for Sunday’s marathon.
Just 4 weeks since running the Manchester Marathon, Mark Gardiner and Paul Quinn took on the marathon distance again, with Mark running a personal best 3:23:43, and Paul running 4:02:16. Naomi Gordon had an impressive marathon debut, running 4:04:27. Naomi was in the great hands of her uncle and experienced marathon runner David McGaffin, who ran along with Naomi on the day and finished in 4:04:26.
Hill & Dale: Millstone
The Millstone Hill & Dale race is an 8km race with 1,500ft of elevation gain. Runners started off in the forest trails before scaling Millstone mountain, which sits below Slieve Donard, before a fast technical descent to the quarry and back through the forest trails for the finish.
Conditions for runners were beautiful, with blue skies all round making for superb views back down in to Newcastle for those who could pick their head up long enough to look!
Long time veteran of the Hill & Dale series, Fergus Thompson, raced Millstone for the first time. How he avoided this one for so long nobody knows, but he was first back for the club in 56:17 finishing 120th.
Kate O'Loan has firmly found her feet in the world of mountain running, going from strength to strength in every race. Her 4th Hill & Dale race this year saw her finish 208th in 1:04:56.
The rivalry continued between Sarah Milligan and Conor Duffy. Toing and froing during the race, passing each other multiple times with their customary "Evening Conor" "Evening Sarah" or vice versa.
But at Millstone it was Milligan who took the win finishing 226th in 1:07:06 with Duffy 254th in 1:11:26.
Marconi 5k
Springwell were well represented at the Marconi 5k, organised by neighbours Ballycastle Runners AC, with 22 members pulling on the purple vest for the race.
There were fantastic times recorded by all members, with Peter Tees putting in a great performance to claim a place on the podium, running 0:17:25 for 2nd place. Springwell also had several age category wins, with Rodney McPhee coming 1st M40 (0:18:20), Maurice Walker claiming 1st M55 (0:18:46), Fiona Prue was 1st F55 (0:20:47), and Pauline Mullan came in 1st F50 (0:24:46). Full club results are below.
2nd Peter Tees 0:17:52; 6th Rodney McPhee 0:18:20 (1st M40); 9th Maurice Walker 0:18:46 (1st M55); 10th Rhys Walker 0:19:16; 27th Fiona Prue 0:20:47 (1st F55); 28th Reggie Colville 0:20:36; 40th Dara Watterson 0:21:33; 43rd Jonathan Huddleston 0:21:32 (PB); 56th Ashley McPhee 0:22:24; 69th Deborah McPhee 0:23:06; 87th Pauline Mullan 0:24:46 (1st F50); 88th George Brien 0:24:46; 99th Patricia Craig 0:25:36; 103rd Andrew Wilmot 0:25:41; 117th Christine Bonham 0:26:43; 126th Janet Patrick 0:27:06; 153rd Julie Corbett 0:29:14; 159th Gemma Wray 0:29:38; 191st Pauline Duke 0:31:08; 196th Monica McClenaghan 0:31:11; 217th Noelle Watterson 0:32:59; 233rd Joanne McClenaghan 0:35:07
May Fair 5k & 10k
Saturday morning was the ninth annual May Fair Races hosted by County Antrim Harriers in Ballyclare. There were both 5km and 10km race options available, with Deborah and Rodney McPhee opting for the 5km race, and David Shiels, Lynn Stewart and Aidan Mooney choosing the 10km race.
The 5km race is mostly downhill for the first half, before a steady climb for the last mile and a bit to the finish line, while the 10km route is undulating with a couple of sharp climbs for runners.
Fantastic running by all five club members, with Rodney running 18:41 in the 5k to claim 10th place overall and 1st M40. In the same race, Deborah ran 22:52 to finish 2nd F40. Meanwhile, in the 10k David Shiels was 3rd M60 in a time of 42:35, with Lynn Stewart running 1:10:34 and Aidan Mooney finishing in a time of 1:11:20.
Finishers were then greeted by a fantastic spread of food afterwards at race HQ in Ballyclare Rugby Club – described by one of our runners as ‘the best spread of food I’ve ever seen’!!
Newell 10k
A couple of Springwell Runners made their way to Coalisland on Sunday morning for Keep ‘er Lit’s ever popular Newell 10k.
Ciarán Blake had a great run securing a personal best for the 10k after running 0:52:10. Meanwhile, having also ran the May Fair 10k in Ballyclare on Saturday, Aidan Mooney improved on his time there to finish in 1:05:51.
