Xmas Eve Parkruns / Merry Xmas from CoLAC!
Fri 23 December 2011--admin
There was a new City of Lisburn AC club best at the Waterworks parkrun yesterday morning with triathlete Richard Graham recording 18:41 for the 5k distance. This placed him 8th overall and 1st M35 from the super turn-out of 139 runners – a record for the event. Declan Morgan committed the cardinal sin of parkrunners by forgetting his barcode which saw his therefore unofficial 19:19 and top 15 place go un-recorded. However, it was good to see Orla Smyth return from a hip injury with a 23:28 which left her as 9th female overall. Orla’s New Year racing programme includes a trip to the South of France with a transplant team for the Nice Prom 10k on 08 January and we wish her well for that.
A very Merry Christmas and a prosperous and injury-free New Year to all club members and visitors to this website! 2011 was a memorable year for City of Lisburn AC and no doubt athletes, parents and coaches will take time to reflect on some on the year’s highlights while they relax over the holiday period.
From Kate Gourley’s N.I. Primary Schools cross-country title to Patrick Crossan’s Masters titles on the track, many successes from members of all ages have been recorded on these pages along with many fantastic photos.
At senior level, the N.I. sprint records for Amy Foster were a bit special, as was Ciara Mageean’s 1500m record and especially her European Junior silver. Both our men’s and women’s senior sprint relay teams became N.I. champions while the Senior ladies won the N.I. Road Relay championship which made a welcome return to the calendar.
At junior level the haul of medals and titles at championships in N.Ireland, Ireland and Scotland were our best ever while the Young Athletes League squad of 50 who travelled to Birmingham for the UK finals brought home an amazing 38 medals with 6 league records broken over the course of the season. This resulted in the junior section receiving the Junior Club of the Year award at both the Lisburn Sports Awards and the Athletics NI awards evening.
With the numbers of senior and junior athletes training hard during the winter under the tireless direction of their dedicated coaches, 2012 should be another good year for City of Lisburn AC and hopefully in Olympic Year a good season for the sport in Northern Ireland!