After all the activity of the last few weeks, we have had a quiet 7 days in terms of races with just the Parkrun events to report on this week and a reminder about some of the up and coming events to look forward to.
Waterworks Parkrun Results
It was a glorious spring morning on Saturday at the Waterworks with bright, blue skies, a few wispy clouds and the sunshine glistening on the water’s surface setting the perfect scene for a lovely morning run. On days like this, we’re reminded how lucky we are to have such a picturesque route on our doorstep. A handful of our Juniors bounced out of bed and got their weekends off to a great start by putting in some super runs in the sunshine. Thomas Weiniger deserves a special shout out as he has been showing impressively consistent form matching his PB for the third time in recent weeks with a very fast time of 22.15. We also had excellent performances from Cormac Leheny in 2nd and Cassie Curran in 4th place (1st female finisher), runs which should serve as a confidence boost before the pair travel to represent Ireland in a weeks’ time at the Falkirk International Cross Country event against England, Scotland and Wales. We are so excited for them to experience such a fantastic opportunity and wish them all the very best -may the luck of the Irish be with them and we can’t wait to hear how they do in next week’s report! Meanwhile back on home soil, the rest of the Juniors should continue to make the most of the various Parkrun events around us – they are a great opportunity for our athletes to test just how much they are improving, or otherwise just to get in an enjoyable training run surrounded by friends and family in a positive, supportive community atmosphere. Where else do you get to run against your parents, teachers and coaches and not only beat them but produce times that they can only dream of! Well done to all of you who partook in the various Parkruns this week – full details of which are set out below!
Waterworks Parkrun Results
| 2 | Cormac LEHENY | Male | JM11-14 | North Belfast Harriers | 17:54 |
| 4 | Cassie CURRAN | Female | JW11-14 | North Belfast Harriers | 19:49 |
| 5 | Dara CASSIDY | Male | JM15-17 | North Belfast Harriers | 19:55 |
| 19 | Thomas WEINIGER | Male | JM11-14 | North Belfast Harriers | 22:15 |
| 89 | Georgia OSHAUGHNESSY | Female | JW10 | North Belfast Harriers | 27:37 |
| 134 | Grace MCKENNA | Female | JW10 | North Belfast Harriers | 29:52 |
| 136 | Eva MCLOUGHLIN | Female | JW10 | North Belfast Harriers | 30:01 |
| 164 | Katie-Louise GOODFELLOW | Female | WWC | North Belfast Harriers | 31:34 |
Ormeau Parkrun
Aside from Waterworks, we had sisters Eimear and Erin going on a Parkrun holiday and giving the Ormeau event a go. Well done girls on two very respectable runs!
| 88 | Eimear O’REGAN | Female | JW11-14 | North Belfast Harriers | 23:45 |
| 452 | Erin O’REGAN | Female | JW11-14 | North Belfast Harriers | 34:10 |
Waterworks Junior Parkun
Sunday morning was yet another gorgeous, sunny day and the Juniors turned out in great numbers at our local Junior Parkrun event. It was a full sibling turnout for the Mooneys with brothers Lucas coming in 1st with a new PB and Isaac coming in 2nd close behind him with sister Eva completing the turn out in a fab 46th. Also making it a family affair was Thomas’ twin Sophie Weiniger who had a fab finish to come in 13th place and we think we spotted the second set of Weiniger twins completing the Junior – we hope they will follow in their siblings’ footsteps and join the club when they’re old enough! Sticking with siblings, we were delighted to see sisters Lucy and Penny Dickson striding home to come in 35th and 41st places – great going girls. Also doing remarkable runs, we had a trio of clubmates Nola, (also bagging a PB – congrats!) Eimear and Olivia coming in 4th,5th and 6th and a few others also putting in their best run yet and getting PBs – well done to you all Georgia O’Shaughnessy, Miles McKinney, Aoife Lemon and Owen White!
Victoria Park Junior Parkrun
Over in east Belfast and in another sibling turnout (there is a theme here!), we had great runs from big brother Tanoj coming in 2nd and little sister Taanya coming in 55th place at Victoria Park so well done to you both!
| 2 | Tanoj Reddy YAKKANTI | Male | JM11-14 | North Belfast Harriers | 08:02 |
| 55 | Taanya YAKKANTI | Female | JW10 | North Belfast Harriers | 13:36 |
Future Events and Training News
Next Sunday presents one of the last opportunities for the Juniors to get in a bit of cross country before the season comes to an end with the last in the East Coast Athletics Club series – even if the kids haven’t participated in the other events in the series they can still do the last one this Sunday and there are events for the very youngest members (which is not a chance they get too often) – entry details here for those who are interested ECAC Junior XC Series 25 | East Coast Athletic Club
For the post primary school Juniors, we look forward to seeing how those of you who have entered in to the Queens University 3k event at the start of April get on.
We would encourage as many Juniors as possible to participate in the Lagan Valley Athletics Club Fab 5 Series of Track and Field Meetings which take place over a number of Thursday evenings in April and May starting on 10th April at Mary Peter’s Track. This is a great way for the Juniors to try out different events and there are categories for U10, U12, U14, U16 and Under 18s. Registration is open for the first event and there are no entries on the evening so check it out and get signed up here https://laganvalleyac.co.uk/lvac-fab-5/
And, of course another reminder that we have our own Laganside Kids Mile on Sunday 7th September 2025 at which there are now less than 40 spaces left. We would be thrilled to have every Junior turn out for the Club’s own event so if you haven’t signed up already for this, please do so on the following link https://laganside10k.com
Looking ahead to the summer, the coaches are in discussions about a 6 week Strength and Conditioning programme at the Club House over the summer holidays so keep an eye out for further details on that.
Training wise, the kids should always be reminded of the importance of getting into a good warm up, stretching and warm down routine to keep themselves injury free as far as possible.
For the older juniors, the coaches are keen to see you organize yourselves in to group training runs outside of the structured Tuesday/ Thursday training, with a Sunday morning longer run meet up being encouraged at 9.30 at the cobblestones beside The Gate Lodge Dentist on the Antrim Road – doing your own independent training will help you meet your running goals and achieve your best potential.
And finally, on a slightly bum note(!), please can we ask the kids to use the loo before training so they don’t get caught short at the track – there have been some complaints from neighbours about this and we obviously don’t want to be upsetting the locals so please have a word with the kids to prevent any future issues!!
That’s all for this week – happy running everyone!