Seapark athletes rack up personal bests after busy running week

The club was represented at Carrickfergus parkrun on Saturday (March 29), with Richard Heatherington finishing fifth overall in a superb time of 22:11.

Heatherington was followed by Andy Smyth in 24:28, while returning from injury was Gillian Grant, who put in a strong performance to achieve a new personal best with a time of 27:38.

Further afield, Bobbie Irvine also achieved a new personal best in the MUSA Cookstown parkrun, putting in a sub-20 minute performance to cross the line in a time of 19:56 and finishing sixth overall.

Irvine used the Cookstown parkrun as a warm up for the Omagh Half-Marathon later that morning, where he was joined by club-mates Gary Connolly, Gillian Cordner and Charlie McCormick.

A record 3,000 runners turned out for the 25th anniversary of the SPAR Omagh Half-Marathon in County Tyrone, the third in the Pure Running Championship Ireland Half Marathon series.

The course is a challenging 13.1 miles, which takes runners through the town centre as well as hilly terrain in rural Omagh.

Meanwhile, Seapark athletes improved upon their performances at Larne Half Marathon the previous week, racking up several personal bests with finishing times as follows: Gillian Cordner 1:33:12 (personal best, third in age category), Gary Connolly 1:36:41 (personal best), Charlie McCormick 1:37:09 and Bobbie Irvine 1:37:36.

On Sunday (March 30), Ann McCracken was in Castlewellan to compete in the Castlewellan Springlake 5/10k event.

Now in its third year, the event started in the upper square, Castlewellan and took runners around the scenic Castlewellan lake.

McCracken, relatively new to running, put in a solid performance and enjoyed the event.

This week also saw the graduation of 11 runners in the ‘Jog Carrickfergus’ beginners group.

Established 12 weeks ago, the group is aimed at people new to running or those returning from an absence.

The Carrickfergus residents completed the programme on Thursday (March 27) with a 5k run in the borough, supported by Seapark members.

All Jog Carrickfergus members finished the 5k course and were presented with a medal and t-shirt for their efforts.

Runners who completed the programme included Sally Swain, Lynette Magill, Jennifer Clements, Tony Barclay, Gillian Bell, Joanne Moore, Shelley Bell, Jackie Reid, Dave Allen, Connor Grant and Adam Cordner.

The club has commended those who took part for their achievements, with a special congratulations to Adam Cordner and Connor Grant, the two youngest members who completed the programme and the 5k run.

Seapark AC will begin a new a ‘Jog Carrickfergus’ beginners/progression group in April and those new to running or returning from a break are very welcome to come along.

The club meets on Tuesday and Thursday evenings at 7 pm at Carrickfergus Cricket Club.

For further information, visit Seapark AC’s website on www.seaparkac.com, or on Twitter or Facebook.