Armagh International Road Races see records tumble in 3k and 5k

It was another fantastic night of racing around the city centre Mall of Armagh organised by Armagh AC recently. As always, there were a vast number of fast times, with 142 men hitting a sub 15 minute chipped time in the 5k, and 52 women hitting sub 10 minutes in the Women’s 3k. Senior and U20 course records fell in both men's and women's events.

The men's event took centre stage with Adam Clarke (handicap -5.7) leading  Jonny Davies (handicap -4.5) by 2 seconds in 13:42. The near perfect conditions enticed a total of 21 under 14-minutes!  This included two under 20 athletes Josh Lay (handicap -4.2) and Josh Cowperthwaite (handicap -4.8), which bodes well for their upcoming middle distance season, in an Olympic year.  

Anna Emilie Møller (handicap -0.3) was dominant at the front ahead of Alex Bell (handicap -0.8) who had recently declined an invitation to compete against Ciara Mageean (handicap -1.9) over the same distance but indoors in Athlone (which Ciara won in a a PB of 8:48.27).

The top finishers, Møller  and  Alex Bell were through in 8:58 and 9:06 respectively.  With some of the finest UK talent behind her, Alex Bell will gain confidence after this performance and look forward to her next long middle distance event.

Amy Griffiths (handicap -0.7) and 8:53 performer Kate Avery  (handicap -1.0) followed behind in 9:09 and 9:10 respectively. Megan Keith (handicap 0.3) broke the U20 record with 9:24 and Tameside based Ty Brockley-Langford (handicap 2.3) was the best of the U17 women with 9:33.

Other highlights included a junior victory in the open 3k event from relative Ulster newcomer,  Matthew Neill (handicap -3.2) who left 4 minute miler and professional physiologist, Danny Mooney  (handicap 1.2) a full 4 seconds behind with an 8:37 victory!  Matthew runs for Acorns AC and has use of what may be  the only indoor 300m track in the UK.

Results on this link