Ballymena & Antrim debut in the Belfast Marathon with a creditable 4th place, just 2sec outside the 2h30m mark, despite some very challenging conditions and a tough new course taking in all four corners of the city.
Lee McGuinness was drafted in to carry the wrist band through the first leg, and passed on to Matt Wray within touching distance of the leaders. Matt battled the worst of the conditions to run across town into wind and rain. Passing over to Jareth Falls who had the longest leg, up to the highest point of the circuit at the top of the Antrim Road, before dropping down to the Loughside and passing the band to Stephen McGuinness in 3rd position.
Stephen, upping from his preferred distance of 800m to over 5miles, Stephen carried the band back into the city centre and passed over to Ian Barrett within site of the podium. Despite chasing the leaders, and passing the 4th and 3rd place marathon runners in the process, the team just missed out on the 2h30m barrier, and finished in 4th place overall.
| Pos | No | Team | Country | Finish | | 1 | 2423 | Abbey AC Male | Northern Ireland | 02:19:22 | | 2 | 3583 | North Belfast Harriers | Northern Ireland | 02:24:45 | | 3 | 3401 | Armagh Athletic Club | Northern Ireland | 02:28:32 | | 4 | 3114 | Ballymena and Antrim AC | Northern Ireland | 02:30:02 | | 5 | 2484 | Ballymena Runners AC | Northern Ireland | 02:33:23 | | 6 | 3664 | QUB Tri | Northern Ireland | 02:34:21 | | 7 | 3521 | Omagh Harriers AC | Northern Ireland | 02:34:53 | | 8 | 3341 | Flow Suckers | Northern Ireland | 02:39:41 | | 9 | 3402 | Lagan Valley Ladies | Northern Ireland | 02:49:41 | | 10 | 3403 | Lagan Valley Mixed A Team | Northern Ireland | 02:49:47 | | 11 | 2808 | Lunchtime Legends D | Northern Ireland | 02:51:29 | | 12 | 2836 | Momentum Team 9 | Northern Ireland | 02:52:14 | | 13 | 2181 | EtherwebDLL.exe's | Northern Ireland | 02:52:34 | | 14 | 2424 | Abbey AC Ladies | Northern Ireland | 02:53:30 | | 15 | 2456 | North Belfast Harriers Ladies | Northern Ireland | 02:54:26 | | 16 | 2293 | NICSAC Rocky's | Northern Ireland | 02:54:31 | | 17 | 2321 | NICSAC Romans | Northern Ireland | 02:55:18 | | 18 | 3404 | Unknown Newtownabbey | Northern Ireland | 02:56:24 | | 19 | 2766 | Ant-Sybex Team B | Northern Ireland | 02:57:26 | | 20 | 2461 | North Down Kens Krumblies | Northern Ireland | 02:58:18 |
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