Antrim Coast Marathon: Ben Morrow and Karen McLaughlin take top places

Ballymena's Ben Morrow and Springwell's Karen McLaughlin have joined the respected list of Antrim Coast Road Marathon medal winners following the landmark event on Saturday.
Ben Morrow wins Antrim Coast Road MarathonBen Morrow wins Antrim Coast Road Marathon
Ben Morrow wins Antrim Coast Road Marathon

Almost 200 competitors stepped out along the route from Cushendall to Larne covering the famous County Antrim coastline for a marathon date revived from the 1980s calendar.

Organisers considered the addition of the popular Nescafe Coast Road Marathon to Larne Athletic Club’s 30-anniversary schedule fitting recognition of the sport’s rich history in the region, with highly-respected Ron Hill on the list of past competitors.

Morrow produced a commanding second-half performance to push on beyond both pre-race favourite James McIlroy (Wycombe AC) and Mark Smith (Mallusk Harriers) and cover the course in 2:43:55. 

Smith received reward for his bright start with runners-up spot in 2:50:26 over the experienced Chris Denton (Springwell Running Club) inside the top three.

In the ladies’ race, respected distance runner McLaughlin dominated, leading the field through halfway in 1:36:20 ahead of home athlete Patricia Blair (Larne AC). 

McLaughlin maintained her relentless pace to break the tape in 3:18:01.

Blair ran well to claim second place in 3:20:13, before Linda McDougall (unattached) completed the podium in 3:28:51.

FULL RESULTS: 1, Ben Morrow 02:43:55; 2, Mark Smith 02:50:26; 3, Chris Denton 02:53:25; 4, Matthew Hewitt 02:57:27; 5, Gary Montgomery 02:58:12; 6, Colin James 03:01:00; 7, David Noble 03:02:19; 8, Rodney Agnew 03:06:20; 9, Noel Connor 03:06:34; 10, Michael Allen 03:08:21; 11, Neil Campbell 03:08:37; 12, Sam Crawford 03:09:33; 13, Thomas Doherty 03:10:39; 14, Matthew Morrow 03:12:18; 15, Jim Moore 03:14:12; 16, Lee O’Boyle 03:14:29; 17, John Robinson 03:14:56; 18, Rodney Livingstone 03:17:06; 19, Alex Davidson 03:17:40; 20, Karen McLaughlin; 21, Jim Finlay 03:19:26; 22, Chris Davies 03:20:05; 23, Patricia Blair 03:20:13; 24, Stephen Walker 03:20:32; 25, William Jenkins 03:21:05; 26, John Woodhouse 03:21:14; 27, John Hasson 03:22:39; 28, Stephen McManus 03:23:16; 29, Sean McAllister 03:23:17; 30, Kieran McKeown 03:23:55; 31, Andrew McKinstry 03:24:31; 32, Philip Mulligan 03:24:46; 33, Andrew Muir 03:25:04; 34, Ian McCracken 03:25:17; 35, Joseph Conlon 03:25:20; 36, William Hoey 03:25:51; 37, John Agnew 03:26:12; 38, David Mealey 03:27:53; 39, Hugh Watters 03:28:03; 40, John Donnelly 03:28:22; 41, Linda McDougall 03:28:51; 42, Maeve Taylor 03:29:02; 43, Stephen King 03:29:55; 44, Greg McComb 03:30:28; 45, Gerry Campbell 03:30:32; 46, Judith Worthington 03:31:25; 47 Ann Cosgrove 03:31:57; 48, Trevor Wilson 03:33:06; 49, John Steele 03:33:17; 50, Alan Lockington 03:33:27; 51, Jonno Johnson 03:36:11; 52, Colin Hoey 03:36:32; 53, Johnny McKeown 03:37:00; 54, Gillian Logan 03:37:34; 55, Conor Sheridan 03:37:51; 56, Alan Ladd 03:39:15; 57, Pamela Mooney 03:40:02; 58, Paul Tilson 03:40:33; 59, Martin Mullan 03:40:42; 60, Thomas Craig 03:40:57; 61, Greg McClure 03:41:05; 62, Chris Agnew 03:41:24; 63, Laura Rose 03:42:40; 64, Barry McAuley 03:44:11; 65, Arnaud Réveillon 03:44:14; 66, Michael Montgomery 03:45:41; 67, Gillian Connolly 03:46:40; 68, Brian Heron 03:46:53; 69, Mark McElhinney 03:47:29; 70, Lynda Shannon 03:47:48; 71, Bernie Regan 03:47:52; 72, Johnny Bradshaw 03:48:30; 73, Paul Williams 03:48:58; 74, Siobhan Gorman 03:49:13; 75, Stephen Allen 03:49:47; 76, Danny Donaldson 03:50:01; 77, Paul Clarkin 03:51:00; 78, Terry McIvor 03:51:44; 79, Sarah Knowles 03:51:45; 80, Helena Dornan 03:52:10; 81 Samuel Drummond 03:52:14; 82, Brendan Rice 03:52:31; 83, Amanda Strange 03:52:46; 84, Geoff Sittlington 03:54:05; 85, Paul Daniels 03:55:33; 86, Mark Todd 03:56:19; 87, Stuart Gowans 03:56:48; 88, Patricia Hamill 03:56:49; 89, Robert Martin 03:56:50; 90, Steven Dunlop 03:58:28; 91, Declan McNaughton 03:59:49; 92, David Cochrane 04:00:16; 93, David Wylie 04:00:52; 94, Damian Fay 04:01:18; 95, Patrick Mooney 04:01:20; 96, Richard Gibson 04:02:13; 97, Eamonn Matthews 04:03:08; 98, Daniel Girvin 04:03:30; 99, Daniel Magill 04:03:32; 100, Gary Bell 04:04:36; 101, Bryan Heron 04:04:50; 102, Duncan Millar 04:05:15; 103, Raymond Lyness 04:05:39; 104, Gary Clawson 04:06:21; 105, Eric Glanville 04:08:00; 106, Claire Martin 04:09:50; 107, Robert Powell 04:12:18; 108, Michael McKeown 04:12:23; 109, Alastair Donaghy 04:12:31; 110, Robert Martin 04:12:57; 111, Michael O’Donoghue 04:13:10; 112, Julie Young 04:13:54; 113, Bobbie Irvine 04:14:00; 114, Gavin Irvine 04:14:01; 115, John Davis 04:14:07; 116, Emmett Woods 04:14:12; 117, Yvonne McIlree 04:14:27; 118, Andrena Berry 04:14:29; 119, Jayne McKeever 04:14:29; 120, Glenn Mann 04:14:49; 121, Jonny Smith 04:15:29; 122, John McGerty 04:15:44; 123, Michael Dempsey 04:16:49; 124, Drew Girvin 04:17:20; 125, Heather Baxter 04:17:21; 126, Eddie Leopold 04:18:11; 127, Rachel Lloyd 04:18:20; 128, Stuart Campbell 04:18:34; 129, Coleen Thompson 04:20:58; 130, James Parke 04:21:55; 131, William Gallagher 04:22:19; 132, Ryan Kirkpatrick 04:23:51; 133, Charlie McCormick 04:24:38; 134, Darren Caulfield 04:26:07; 135, Alan Kerr 04:26:48; 136, Deborah Ewing 04:26:48; 137, Gary Connolly 04:28:37; 138, Steven Gibson 04:30:08; 139, Graham Ross 04:31:36; 140, Aidan Mitchell 04:31:47; 141, Peter Leonard 04:32:13; 142, Wendy McAuley 04:32:49; 143, Andrew Davidson 04:33:08; 144, Andrew Wilson 04:34:22; 145, Bobby Elliott 04:34:52; 146, Sean Clarke 04:35:11; 147, Lynne Mounstephen 04:35:38; 148, Ann MacPherson 04:37:21; 149, Cathal McAuley 04:37:21; 150, Emma Magill 04:38:25; 151; Pamela Davis 04:39:22; 152, Mandy Yau Wilson 04:40:16; 153, Ian Russell 04:41:59; 154, Ian Morrow 04:42:03; 155, Una McNeill 04:42:31; 156, Rodney Farrelly 04:42:40; 157, Mary Duffin 04:42:58; 158, Brian Fagan 04:45:07; 159, Ruth Harrison 04:46:02; 160, Geraldine Murphy 04:46:22; 161, Carrie Thompson 04:48:05; 162, Helen McCormack 04:48:15; 163, Ashleigh Brown 04:51:05; 164, Jonathan Lindsay 04:53:40; 165, Michael Watterson 04:53:41; 166, Lionel Date 04:55:24; 167, Brian McAuley 04:55:55; 168, Ali McAllister 04:56:14; 169, Gordy Brown 04:58:38; 170, Gerry McClintock 04:59:30; 171, Rachel Galbraith 05:03:24; 172, Susan Hayden 05:07:56; 173, Suzy Taylor 05:09:10; 174, Mark Ramsey 05:09:10; 175, Tiffany Donaldson 05:10:28; 176, Malachy McGahon 05:12:37; 177, William Thomas Gray 05:12:37; 178, Tim Haslett 05:13:13; 179, Tracey Meudec 05:13:24; 180, Jennifer Mulvenna 05:23:26; 181, Eddie Finn 05:34:13; 182, Neill Harper 05:39:43; 183, Teresa Evans 05:45:01; 184, Jo Difford 05:45:01; 185, Sally McKeown 05:47:39; 186, Marion Morrow 05:48:24; 187, George Sloan 07:00:00; 188, Jonathan Turner 07:00:00.