East Antrim Harriers AC

This morning we held our Kirkpatrick Cup Club Cross Country Handicap Race with a good turnout of 12 runners for the 6 mile distance at Sixmilewater Park. Early on Jonny Craig led the field with Rick Hill, Ross Mercer & Chris Collins making their way through the field. However, at the midway point Billy Reed hit the front and there was no stopping him as he surged on to cross the line in 1st place with a good margin of victory. Ross Mercer followed in 2nd place just pipping Rick Hill in the final stages who finished 3rd. Thanks to the time-keepers braving the elements!

Congratulations to Andy Liddle winner of this mornings EAH XC club handicap, The Baird Cup. 6x1 Mile laps of the Six Mile water were completed by all competitors in wet conditions which made for hard going over the grass.    Andy held off strong challenges from John Neill and EAH debutant Andrew Wilson who finished in 2nd and 3rd places respectively. Well done to everyone who competed and thanks to Viv for giving up her time and braving the elements to provide timekeeping and photos.

Great fun at this seasons 1st EAH Cross Country Handicap race - The McAlmont Cup. 14 runners took part in the 4 mile race which kept the race within the guidelines in light of the recent COVID restrictions. New recruit Karen Hutchinson took the early lead as she made her EAH race debut with the chasing pack trying to close her down. Tim Khanna then took charge of the race on the 3rd lap with Jim Finlay and Peter Fraser in hot pursuit. With a lap to go it was nip and tuck with Michael Allen closing on the front 3, Gareth Blair and Nick Weston were also working their way through the field. However Tim withstood the pressure and finished first just in front of Jim Finlay with Michael Allen in 3rd. Great race and great morning. Well done to everyone who took part and congratulations to Tim on the win. Thanks to Jeanette for photos.

Great to see another of our runners back in racing action this weekend. So a big well done to Chris Collins who dropped down in distance from more recent Ultra efforts to complete the ChampionChip Half Marathon at Down Royal. Chris ran strongly to finish 4th overall in an excellent time of 1.21.05. A good example of lockdown training paying off!

Congratulations to Ross Mercer who completed ‘The virtual VLM London Marathon’ this morning. Despite races being cancelled left right and centre due to COVID-19, Ross was determined to race a marathon this year and put in the long miles of training. Sub 3hrs was the target. The EAH support team of Jim Finlay, Larry McAteer, Johnny Craig provided supplies and encouragement on the bikes. Whilst Ross was paced for various distances by Michael Allen, Steven Beggs, John Rooney and John Neill. Ross finished in a time of 2hr53:44 which gave him a new PB and good for age for London next year, when hopefully the masses will be able to run it again? Fantastic effort by Ross and great to see the club getting together to help Ross on his way. Well done to all.

Great to see one of our new recruits Nick Weston wear the hoops for the first time today in the Les Jones Memorial 5k in Belfast. Nick ran strongly, running a time of 17.13 to finish 11th in a large field and pick up an Age Category win too. We look forward to seeing many more strong performances in the future.