The exciting race series, the ChampionChip Ireland Half Marathon Grand Prix has reached the half way mark and this Wednesday will likely see one of the biggest fields in the series so far- the Lisburn Half Marathon on Wednesday 17th June (6:45pm). Key sponsor of the series is eaga Heat and it is organised in association with the governing body, Athletics Northern Ireland and running store Up & Running.

There are 1300 entries in the Half Marathon alone and no doubt this will touch 1500 when on the night entries are added in. The race has attracted entries from across Ireland plus participants from USA and mainland Europe with many of Ireland's top road runners including Brian Murphy and David Morwood taking part.

Brendan Courtney from Lisburn City Council
“Lisburn City Council is delighted to be part of this innovative series which will hopefully lead to more runners taking up the challenge of competing a Half Marathon”.

The series has enticed many athletes to compete in all six of the half marathons and one of these people is local Moira man Michael McKeown, who currently lies in 4th place in the 40+ category. The East Down athlete has a prolific record of running marathons and half marathons all over Ireland and beyond.  He recently completed the Cork City Marathon on June 1st in 3:23:35 a week after the Newry Half Marathon.

The six race competition has already attracted record fields to the opening rounds in Omagh,Larne and Newry with the same expected at Lisburn, Ards and Cookstown. Athletes have to score in two races in each half of the series. Richard Turkington and Karen Alexander are the leaders at the halfway stage of the ChampionChip Eaga Heat Half Marathon series.

Ryan Maxwell is another athlete who plans to run all six races in the series and currently  lies in 4th position in the Male Open category.  His best time was the Newry Half Marathon where he recorded 1:16:40 to come home in 6th place overall and this will be his first time competing in the Lisburn Half Marathon.

Glenn Grant from ChampionChip commented:
"The ChampionChip Ireland Half Marathon Grand Prix is designed to reward the many runners who turn out at races week in week out and don't win the individual prizes; now they can aim for the overall prize in their category.  Just as in the Tour de France cycle race Lance Armstrong rarely wins a stage but shows determination and commitment to perform consistently over all the stages of the event and become the overall winner".

Chipped timing will be in operation for all the Half Marathons- the transponder chip is attached to the runners’ shoe and their time is automatically logged as they cross the finish line ensuring reliability and accuracy of times and placings for all the participants.

For further information please contact Clare McCoy, Marketing Manager at 02890 602707 or marketing@niathletics.org.
Visit Athletics NI website for full details: www.niathletics.org on the series
-ENDS-

Notes to Editors:

 The races taking part in the series are as follows:
     Omagh Half Marathon – March 21st
     Larne Half Marathon – March 28th
     Newry Half Marathon – May 25th
     Lisburn Half Marathon – June 17th
     Ards Half Marathon July 3rd
     Cookstown Half Marathon July 24th

 ChampionChip Ireland has been engaged to provide timing and results services at 6 half marathon races in Northern Ireland in 2009. 
 A competitor will stay in the age group they ran in at their first race which is either Omagh or Larne.  A competitor who completes more than 4 races will have their best 4 positions counted in the series. 
 Entries at Newry Half Marathon were up by 170 on the previous year with almost 900 runners entered.  That maintains the trend of the first 2 races at Omagh and Larne where the numbers were up by approx 30% on 2008. 
 17 runners have completed in all 3 races in the series and stand to claim a specially printed garment if they do the next 3.
 Lisburn Half Marathon is the biggest race in the series so far.








PRIZE FUND

    First Prize Value    Second Prize Value    Third Prize Value
Wheelchairs    £200    £100    £50
Male Open    £200    £100    £50
Female Open    £200    £100    £50
Male Vet 35    £200    £100    £50
Female Vet 35    £200    £100    £50
Male Vet 40    £200    £100    £50
Female Vet 40    £200    £100    £50
Male Vet 45    £200    £100   
Female Vet 45    £200    £100   
Male Vet 50+    £200       
Female Vet 50+    £200