North Belfast Harriers Junior Report 10th – 16th June 2024

We start off this week’s report with a special thank you and shout out to Geoff Dickson. Geoff is a parent to one of our juniors and has very kindly applied for a grant to help pay for a bus to the Ulster Championships in Donegal. Thank you Geoff. Your efforts are greatly appreciated by everyone at the club.

More information on the Championships and transport will be announced closer to the time.

Now onto the running.

Following the success of our junior stags at last week’s NI and Ulster U14 to U20 Age Group Track and Field Championships, many were glad of a well-deserved break. With only park runs to report on this week, I don’t want my fellow report writers to think I only take the easy weeks so I will make this week more detailed to prevent any backlash 😉

Waterworks Parkrun – 5K

Saturday morning saw 10 of our juniors taking to their local park to complete the 5k run.

First we are off to the Waterworks. There, we had 9 junior stags head off to show the adults how it’s done!

First junior across the line was Oscar Purvis in a very impressive time of 19:10, finishing in overall 5^th place. Oscar is no stranger to the 5k run and has now completed a staggering 142 of them.

Next across the line in 9^th place and completing his 82^nd park run was Alex Reid who finished in a fabulous time of 20:37.

Hot on his heels was our third junior to cross the line, and the only Junior Harrier with a PB in the 5K this week. Tom McLoughlin finished in 10^th place overall coming through in a brilliant time of 20:38. Well done Tom.

Our 4^th Junior to finish was Thomas Coy. This young man is no stranger to either the senior or Junior Park Runs notching up a combined total of 154. Thomas finished in 21^st place overall and in a great time of 21:30.

Isaac Mooney was our 5^th Junior to finish in 26^th place overall in a whopping time of 21:40. Isacc scored an age graded percentage of 75.46% the highest of all our Juniors on the day. Fantastic running Isaac.

Age grading takes your time and uses the world record time for your gender and age to produce a score (a percentage). This score allows you to compare your personal performance against other people’s performances even though they might be a different age and a different gender to you – the higher your score the better your performance.

Mason Mercer was the 6^th Junior to cross the line in a great time of 22:17. This was Mason’s first run at the Waterworks senior park run and made easy work of it finishing in 34^th place overall. Well done Mason.

Milo Purvis completed his 105^th Senior Park Run at the waterworks on Saturday finishing in 63^rd place with a super time of 23:38.

The penultimate junior to cross the line and the only female Junior Harrier to run the Waterworks Park Run was Nola Rafferty. Nola finished 6^th in her gender with a great time of 24:43

Finishing in a great time of 30:50 was Matthew Purvis. Matthew completed his 98^th Park run, 97 of which were at the Waterworks. Only 2 more until the BIG milestone. Lets hope there will be cake!!!

POSITION	PARKRUNNER	GENDER	AGE GROUP	CLUB	TIME
5	Oscar PURVIS	Male	JM15-17	North Belfast Harriers	19:10
9	Alex REID	Male	JM11-14	North Belfast Harriers	20:37
10	Tom MCLOUGHLIN	Male	JM11-14	North Belfast Harriers	20:38	PB
21	Thomas COY	Male	JM11-14	North Belfast Harriers	21:30
26	Isaac MOONEY	Male	JM10	North Belfast Harriers	21:40
34	Mason MERCER	Male	JM11-14	North Belfast Harriers	22:17	First Time
63	Milo PURVIS	Male	JM10	North Belfast Harriers	23:38
84	Nola RAFFERTY	Female	JW10	North Belfast Harriers	24:43
213	Matthew PURVIS	Male	JM15-17	North Belfast Harriers	30:50

SixMileWater Park Run – 5K

Holly Collins was the only Junior Harrier to complete the senior Park Run at SixMileWater in Ballyclare. Holly finished in 5^th place overall and in a very impressive time of 20:28. She was also the first Female to cross the line. Well done Holly.

POSITION	PARKRUNNER	GENDER	AGE GROUP	CLUB	TIME
5	Holly COLLINS	Female	JW15-17	North Belfast Harriers	20:28

Waterworks Junior Park run – 2K

On Sunday morning the rain stayed away and more of our Juniors stepped out to pound the paths of the Waterworks in the weekly 2K junior park run.

First across the line and taking top spot was Cormac Leheny in an eye watering time of 6:48. Not only was Cormac first but he scored the highest Age Grading Score of all our Juniors with a very impressive 78.04%. Well done Cormac.

As if the 5k on the Saturday wasn’t enough for one weekend, Alex Reid completed the 2K in style finishing in 2^nd place with a super time of 7:22.

To ensure that NBH Juniors took all three top places, Lucas Mooney completed his 48^th junior park run and rocked home in a superb time of 7:49.

As a first timer at the Waterworks Junior Park Run, Tanoj Reedy Yakkanti completed his 8^th Junior Park Run finishing in 6^th place with a great time of 8:22.

Three Harriers obtained PB’s at this event. The first being Nola Rafferty who obviously wasn’t showing any sign of fatigue after completing the 5k the previous morning. Nola finished in 8^th Place overall in a time of 8:32. Well done Nola.

Close behind in 10^th place and the 4^th female across the line was Olivia Boyd who completed her 10^th Park Run in a great time of 8:58.

Finishing in 11^th place was the second of the Leheny brothers. Pearse Leheny finished in a great time of 9:25 and completed his 50^th Junior Park Run. Well done Pearse.

Not to be outdone by her brother’s success yesterday, Eva McLoughlin pulled out all the stops and finished in 12^th place with a super new PB of 9:38. There will be some celebrations in the McLoughlin household this weekend. Well done Eva.

Aoife Lemon ran her 38^th Junior Park Run in a very impressive time of 10:16 finishing in 15^th position and was the 10^th female to cross the line.

Ronan O’Neill completed the Junior run in a great time of 11:16 finishing in 21^st place. Ronan is no stranger to the Junior Park Run completing his 105^th run and his 33^rd at Waterworks.

The third and youngest of the Leheny trio stole the limelight from his brothers rocking home in 25^th place with an amazing time of 11:50 and getting a new PB. Well done Fintan Leheny

The penultimate junior harrier to cross the line was Eva McCarney. Eva completed her 15^th junior run, all of which have been at Waterworks, in a great time of 12:49

The pack of Juniors was finished off by Dara McLaughlin who finished his 199^th Junior run in 23:56. Big milestone next time round. Lets hope for some cake…. We all love cake 😊

POSITION	PARKRUNNER	GENDER	AGE GROUP	CLUB	TIME
1	Cormac LEHENY	Male	JM11-14	North Belfast Harriers	06:48
2	Alex REID	Male	JM11-14	North Belfast Harriers	07:22
3	Lucas MOONEY	Male	JM11-14	North Belfast Harriers	07:49
6	Tanoj Reddy YAKKANTI	Male	JM11-14	North Belfast Harriers	08:22	First Time
8	Nola RAFFERTY	Female	JW10	North Belfast Harriers	08:32	PB
10	Olivia BOYD	Female	JW11-14	North Belfast Harriers	08:58
11	Pearse LEHENY	Male	JM11-14	North Belfast Harriers	09:25
12	Eva MCLOUGHLIN	Female	JW10	North Belfast Harriers	09:38	PB
15	Aoife LEMON	Female	JW10	North Belfast Harriers	10:16
21	Ronan O’NEILL	Male	JM10	North Belfast Harriers	11:16
25	Fintan LEHENY	Male	JM10	North Belfast Harriers	11:50	PB
29	Eva MCCARNEY	Female	JW10	North Belfast Harriers	12:49
49	Dara MCLAUGHLIN	Male	JM11-14	North Belfast Harriers	23:56

Jordanstown Junior Park Run – 2K

This week Mason Mercer headed off to Jordanstown Junior Park Run to show our neighbours how to complete the 2k route. He romped home in 1^st place in a great time of 7:05. Well done Mason.

POSITION	PARKRUNNER	GENDER	AGE GROUP	CLUB	TIME
1	Mason MERCER	Male	JM11-14	North Belfast Harriers	07:05

Future Events

Laganside 10k and Junior mile

Entries to this year’s Dame Kelly Holmes Children’s Mile at the Laganside 10K are still OPEN. The event which is organised by the North Belfast Harriers will take place on Sunday 1^st September 2024.

Click here to register.

Run Naked

The next Run Naked event takes place on Friday 28^th June at 7pm.

All participants will run the 5km waterworks Park Run course and try and predict their time to within 5 seconds.

The competition is open to all club members and only costs £2 to enter but PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE wear clothes, just don’t bring any watches, phones or timing devices.

More details on our social media pages.