Praise for our outgoing Chairman.

A spokesperson for the Ballyclare-based club explained: “The committee and wider membership body of the County Antrim Harriers running club would like to pay tribute and express their gratitude to their outgoing Chairman Colin Gilmore for being a dedicated member of the County Antrim Harriers committee for over 17 years.

“During his 17 years as part of the committee, he has held numerous positions including, committee member, Men’s captain, Treasurer and Chairman.

He has facilitated some significant changes over this period from growing the membership of the County Antrim Harriers from 27 to 162 and more recently navigated the club with unwavering leadership through the pandemic, keeping members active and engaged through innovative virtual weekly and monthly challenges and rewards.

“Most significantly during his tenure as Chairman, Colin has facilitated the inception of the 10km and 5km May Fair races which have grown to be one of Northern Ireland’s most popular fixtures in the local road running community.

“Notably, this event helps to raise vital funds for many local charities. This year alone over £3,000 was donated to carefully chosen worthy local causes including Friends of the Cancer Centre, Age NI, Cancer Lifeline, FND Matters, the food bank and Sands NI, from proceeds of the CAH May Fair races.”

A spokesperson for the non-profit making organisation added: “Colin would argue that other members deserve the credit for these achievements, butwithout his guidance and support many of these initiatives would never have got past the ideas stage.

“Under his watch County Antrim Harriers has grown and improved immensely and the members are grateful for his tireless service and contributions.”

Chris Dickey has been appointed the new Chairman of County Antrim Harriers.

ENDS

Member of the Month – April 2023

Congratulations to our April Member of the Month, John Holmes. John is a regular attender of club runs and improvement sessions. John enjoys representing CAH at many events, in particular at recent races in America including his age grade win in Alabama. John is always a great encourager on club runs and during races.

May Fair 2023 5k & 10k Results

Here are the results of today’s races. Thank you to everyone for running. The age graded category winners and BT39 winners will be uploaded later on once verified.

5k Winners – Male

1st – Brandon McKeown – Annandale Striders -15:23

2nd – Noel McNally – Roadrunners AC – 15:42

3rd – Tom Fleming – Loughview AC – 16:30

Junior Winner – Charlie Wilson – East Coast AC – 18:24

5k Winners – Female

1st – Caitlyn Harvey – Roadrunners AC – 18:02 (New Course Record)

2nd – Elisoa Crawford – North Belfast Harriers – 18:36

3rd – Alison Gilliland – 19:11

Junior Winner – Holly Collins – North Belfast Harriers – 19:35

10k Winners – Male

1st – Matthew Lavery – North Belfast Harriers – 31:53

2nd – James Hamilton – Ballymena Runners – 33:18

3rd – Richard Craig – East Antrim Harriers – 35:20

10k Winners – Female

1st – Gemma McDonald – Ballycastle Runners – 38:57

2nd – Nicola Black – Roadrunners AC – 39:40

3rd – Fionnuala O’Hare – North Belfast Harriers – 41:23

Spar Craic 10km – Friday 17th March 2023

This race at began at City Hall, with approximately 2,500 bushy-tailed runners weaving through the streets of the City Centre and making their way upwards to the Falls, before returning back towards Great Victoria street, up Dublin road and Botanic avenue towards Queens, through the Gardens towards Stranmills embankment with the final 2.75km within Ormeau Park. Parts of the race which were off-road through Botanic Gardens and Ormeau Park.

There was a craic-ing turnout from the Club with a few well-deserved stonking PBs for Suzanne, Stephanie and Karen!

Special thanks to Margaret Beattie for coming out this morning to support us all on route and for collecting race packs on Wednesday.

Aaron Anderson – 47:06

Suzanne Dickey – 49:03 (PB)

Chris Dickey – 51:08

Jennifer Moore – 53:04

Karen Wilson -53:13 (PB)

Erin Montgomery – 55:06

Stephanie Hamilton – 58:25 (PB)

Davina Catherwood – 1:07:07

Wendy Forsythe – 1:07:16

Walled City 10miler, Derry – Saturday 11th March 2023

Well done to Karen Wilson, Stephanie Hamilton and John Holmes for blasting round the Walled City 10 miler in Derry today. Conditions were perfect with Karen hitting an amazing PB and Steph making her 10mile debut for the club!

Karen Wilson – 1:28:37 (Personal Best)

John Holmes – 1:33:25

Stephanie Hamilton – 1:38:47 (Distance Debut)

Tokyo Marathon – Sunday 5th March 2023

CAH Marathon Superstar Suzanne Kennedy has completed the 2023 Tokyo Marathon this morning running a fantastic personal best of 3hrs 37 mins. Suzanne completed the 6 marathon majors this morning to get her Six Star medal. She is the first harrier to complete all 6 within a year. She ran every marathon from strength to strength with grit, determination and a smile. Suzanne is now also a Guinness world record holder for participating in the marathon with the most 6 star finishers! We are immensely proud of her as a club!

Time – 3:37:14 – Personal Best