Race report Paul Tranter

I think we can blame daughter Emma for finding ourselves in Belfast at the end of September gearing up to run the Belfast City Half Marathon. Either that or we have finally decided that half marathons are ‘really nice to run’, not like stupid marathons!
So, with a race lined up it was also the chance to spend a long weekend exploring Belfast and for me, the chance to finally visit the Giant’s Causeway, which as a geographer/geologist has always been on my wish list.
Arriving on Friday with the race on Sunday also meant the chance to do a new parkrun and we opted for Queen’s, Belfast so Emma could get a Q for her parkrun alphabet. The parkrun was at Queen’s University’s sports grounds, a 15 minute bus ride south of the city and a lovely looping course on gravel tracks that make up a trim trail around the University’s very fancy looking sports pitches.
The marathon itself started and finished in Ormeau Park, about a 30 minute walk from our apartment in the city centre, which was very well located apart from the incessant noise of buskers who really couldn’t sing.
The course wound itself around the city sights, from the Titanic quarter to the Cathedral quarter, up the Falls Road, out to the University and along the various rivers running through city. A lot of the route was also through parks and on cycle/walking routes, so it often felt more like a long parkrun than a city marathon. It was also pretty flat. The weather was perfect, sunny, but nicely cool and the support on route was great. All in all a very enjoyable half marathon, highly recommended. Sightseeing in Belfast is also great, with lots of coffee shops and good restaurants. And the odd pub.

The race was won by Barnaba Kipkoech in a very impressive 1:03:48
First female and 10th overall in an equally impressive time was Natasha Cockram in 1:12:47
For Otley AC, Pamela finished in 2:20:20 (one second behind Emma) and I finished in 1:53:37

Full results can be found here: https://belfastcitymarathon.com/results-search/Results-HM-2024