East Antrim Harriers AC

Some great action shots of Brandon McKeown who made his EAH debut at the Bobby Rea XC yesterday, at the Billy Neill playing fields in Comber. Brandon showed what great potential he has by finishing 17th in a high quality field. Well done Brandon. Fingers crossed there will be more races to choose from in 2021. Thanks to Keith McClure and Desmond Loughrey for photos.

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.

Great night at our Club Handicap event tonight. This was the Smyth Cup 5 Mile Road Race that had been delayed from earlier in the year. Congratulations to Stevie Beggs who came home in 1st place despite starting near the back of the field, with Chris Collins in 2nd and Ross Mercer following close behind in 3rd. Well done to all runners who took part including some of our new post-lockdown recruits! Thanks also to the timekeepers and photographers on a wet night.

It was great to see a return to road racing in Northern Ireland last weekend with Pete Fraser being the first East Antrim Harrier to jump into action. Pete has been making great strides since joining our club last year and he ran well in Saturday’s 10k at Down Royal to finish in 41.49

We are delighted that club member Billy Reed, along with Dale Mathers, broke the record for the Cassie's Challenge on Saturday. Cassie's Challenge is a race against the clock through the Mourne Mountains with 50 mountains to summit, over a course spanning 58 miles & a climb of 6193m. With the previous record standing at over 21 hours, Billy & Dale took an incredible 4 hours off that time to finish in 17 hours and 42 minutes. Well done to both men... and great to see Billy back down at club training tonight too!! More info about Billy's day out here: https://www.facebook.com/cassieschallenge/posts/288835655799382?__tn__=K-R

The EAH 6 mile handicap ‘the Kirkpatrick cup’ was held this morning at 6 mile water park. Despite a low turnout a good race developed with Larry McAteer pacing himself to perfection to lift the trophy. Well done to everyone who turned out today and thanks to time keepers. Nice one Larrold.

Well done to Davy Turtle & Jim Finlay who represented the club at the NI & Ulster Senior Cross Country Championships on Saturday. Both have featured heavily throughout the cross country season & ran well once again in tough conditions on the 12k course. Davy finished 67th in 53.44, with Jim finishing 138th in 62.28

Great to see our own Billy Reed down to the last 20 of Last One Standing. Into loop 21, around 100 miles into the race. Come on Billy! 20 started loop 21, Anto Lee dns loop 21 5-Rachel Piper 13-Dave Stevenson 20- Georgios Dalakouras 25-Peter Cromie 30-Marty Hagan 31-Calum Tinnion 49- Neil Scott 58- Alan Risk 66-Dan Lawson 69-Ian McCauley 75-Claire Blannwarth 82-Gareth Birkett 84-Graeme Black 85-Martin Campbell 87-Gwynn Stokes 89-Billy Reed 92-Eoin Keith 98-Pat Staunton 102-Keith Lane 124-Jill McCann

Davy Turtle, John Neill & Jim Finlay turned out for the club at yesterday’s Stormont Cross Country race, the latest fixture in the Athletics NI League. Davy was first club man home for 20th position in 25.57, John followed in 40th position in 27.09, while Jim continued his ever-present record to finish in 30.01 for 92nd position. Well done lads!

Congrats to Jim Finlay winner of yesterday’s Club XC handicap, the Baird Cup at the Six mile water park, Ballyclare. Jim and the others battled the strong winds as he led from start to finish over the 6 mile course. Well done to everyone who turned out and thanks to Viv for timekeeping

Another great day out for the annual road trip to Co. Dublin for the Raheny Shamrocks 5 mile road race. Yesterday’s event is always one that club runners look out for with a flat fast course and a high quality field. Ross Mercer was the first EAH home in a time of 27:51. Together with David Turtle and John Neill they led the club to a 4th place finish in the M40 team category. Also special mentions to Michael McDonald and John Rooney who whilst making their debuts at Raheny also posted excellent times and personal bests at the 5 mile distance. Thanks to Raheny Shamrocks for hosting the event and making us feel so welcome as always. Thanks to club members who put the work into organizing such an enjoyable day.

EAH man Peter Fraser returned ‘home’ this weekend to take part in the Helsby Half Marathon in Liverpool. Peter put in an excellent performance as he finished the 13.1 mile course in a time of 1:31:43. Well done Peter

Well done to Billy Reed, Michael McDonald & Andy Liddle for taking on the epic Race over the Glens on New Years Day. In what was a record entry of 417 runners, each of the Harriers were well up the field with Billy finishing 2nd in his age category. Thanks to Ballymena Runners for hosting the race. RESULTS 23rd Billy Reed 40:26 82nd Michael McDonald 45:02 126th Andy Liddle 48:06