East Coast runners take on Seven Sevens mountain race

East Antrim AC runners at the Seven Sevens mountain race in Newcastle. INLT 34-670-CON

The route saw athletes summit the seven highest peaks in the scenic Mourne Mountains and cover 30.5k in distance with 2,675 metres of ascent.

Recent Wasdale Ironman Corey Urwin set the pace for the East Coast AC men; the talented athlete looked strong on the climbs and descended well to finish in a total time of 5:02:35, securing 58th place overall.

Mark Jordan finished in 5:51:46 (104th place) and Murray Deller followed in 5:53:46 (106th place).

Also on Saturday, four of the club’s talented triathletes took to the start line of the popular Lough Neagh Triathlon, this year sponsored by Acti-Snack and based in Ballyronan Marina.

All four took part in the sprint distance event which included a 750m swim, followed by a 20k cycle and then a 5k run.

International triathlete and one of East Coast AC’s leading ladies, Adele Neill was the first home for the club when she was placed 18th lady and fourth in her category with a total time of 1:20:00.

Stephen Whelan was the next East Coast AC member to take on the three tough disciplines and did so in fine fashion; finishing in 111th place overall in a total event time of 1:21:45.

Next home was junior star Callum Sittlington, who finished well as fourth in his category and 154th overall with a time of 1:25:48.

Although relatively new to the world of triathlon, Roy McMullan can regularly be seen on the results lists for many an event. Roy finished impressively under the 90 minutes mark with a 1:29:54 finish time (189th place).

The week’s athletics action for the club kicked off last Wednesday at the annual Coleraine Five Mile Road Race, this year sponsored by Edwin May Nissan. The event attracted a quality field of nearly three hundred athletes including East Antrim AC’s John Steele, Iain Bailie and Sandy Plumb.

John Steele was first home for the club, completing the five miles in a time of 33:58 (71st place), which also secured an impressive fourth place finish in his category. Iain Bailie appeared to have put his recent injury behind him when he clocked 34:42 for a 83rd place finish, followed by Sandy Plumb in 38:20 to take 134th place.