Round 2 of the Hill and Dale Series brought some eye catching performances from East Down athletes, most notably an impressive 7th place from Liam Venney who has been lying low for some time, perhaps building up for this type of event and he could well become the surprise package over the coming weeks. However even more exciting was Megan Wilson's showing, as she displayed her liking for this sort of event by taking first Female Junior spot in 49.22 in overall 100th place with her Dad Brian keeping the family name in round figures in the coveted 150th place. Another improving performance was Frances Tumelty's 67th place while Brian Hamilton had to be content with 2nd place in the V60 category for the second week in a row. Michael Degan showed little thought of worry about keeping himself safe prior to running the Belfast Marathon with another solid showing or perhaps he's just enjoying his re-discovered freedom now that wife Barbara resumes her role of artistic director as she recovers from the broken bones caused by a wayward snowball in the depths of Winter. Anna McCoy also completed the 5.5 mile course while Ross Denvir opened his account despite his mentor Stevie Cunningham's absence – did he frighten him off?
GOOD FOR NOTHING OR GOOD FOR AGE?
With many local runners preparing for what will be a record breaking entry in the 30th Belfast Marathon on Monday and over 20,000 in total expected to participate in all the associated events here's some food for thought. Next year will see the Olympics on our doorstep and many will contemplate running the London marathon in 2012 just to be able to say “I was there”. It is very difficult to gain entry through the ballot system so perhaps it's worth thinking about achieving your Good For Age standard.
The criteria for men for London are:- Age 18- 40, 3h.10m, Age 41 – 59 sub 3h.15m, Age 60 -64 sub 3h.30m and Age 65-69 sub 4 hours.
Women's times are Age 18- 49 sub 3h 50m, Age 50 – 54 sub 4h.00m, Age 55-59 sub 4h.15m Age 60 – 64 sub 4h.30m
There is nothing easy about any of these targets, but as many of you are probably in shape to go pretty close to them, gaining automatic entry as good for age would be a great prize to aim for. Considering also that applications for entry under this category must be made before end of August and there won't be lot of opportunities to have another go at qualification before then – would you really want to have to run another faster marathon in the next 2 months anyway? - then now's the time to go for it.
Another of the world's great marathons is the New York City race in November but again obtaining entry is difficult. The good news is that it's “easier” to qualify in the Good for Age category in New York than for London and they also accept a good half marathon time as well which means it's easier to have several goes at it. Again the qualifying times have to be completed by January 2012 with an application submitted by mid March, so while the events themselves are a long way ahead the time for getting applications in is not and can easily slip by unless you focus now.
For New York the target times are Men 18 – 39 2h.55m Marathon or 1.23 half marathon, Age 40+ 3h.10m or 1h.30m half, Men 50+ 3h 30m or 1h 40m half, Men 60+ 3h 45m or 1h 48m half.
For the ladies the times are 18-39 3h 23m or 1h 37m Half, Age 40+ 3h 38m or 1h 44m half, Age 50+ 3h 52m or 1h 50m half, Age 60+ 4h 13m or 2h 00m 30 secs.
All of these time and application dates can and should be checked out on the respective websites but if you're involvement later consists of putting your feet up to watch either of these events on telly in 2012 while you are kicking yourself that you could have been there don't say you haven't been warned. As a special offer I'll do the kicking for you, as I've just realised it's not physically possible to put your feet up and kick yourself at the same time. Though on second thoughts I may have to sub-contract that duty as I intend to be running – if I can hit the target time!
Joe Quinn
25 April 2011
