None Local athletes face strong Africans in Titanic 10k. Official Belfast City marathon warm up race. The top Northern Ireland athletes will face stiff opposition in the 2nd Titanic Quarter 10K Road Race on Sunday 5th April (Start at 2pm from Queens Road). This popular event has again attracted a huge record entry of some 850 pre entries with the final figure likely to exceed 1000 on the day. The race is the only official warm-up race for the forthcoming Belfast City Marathon in May. It is sponsored by Titanic Quarter and Port of Belfast and organised by governing body, Athletics Northern Ireland.
In the Men’s event last weekend’s Larne Half Marathon winner Joe McAllister will give the event a miss in preparation for the Hamburg Marathon on 26th April. Instead Larne runner-up Brian Campbell will have Kenyan Simon Tonui, who won the Bath Half Marathon two weeks ago by almost two minutes. His credentials in the 10K event in Belfast are impressive. He won in 2004 and finished 2nd in 2005 and 2007- his brother Raymond was runner up last year to Ethiopia’s Ayele Mergessa.
Also racing will be 2006 Belfast Marathon runner up Zak Kihara of Kenya who is also a former winner of the Edinburgh Marathon. In addition to Campbell he is likely to face Willowfield athletes Paul Rowan and Alan McCullough who were in the top 6 last year. However the biggest local threat could be NI Cross Country runners up; Eddie McGinley who is returning to competition after illness and Stephen Scullion who recently won the Glaslough 5K.
A surprising absentee in the women’s race is Newcastle’s Kerry Harty who was eventually victorious in last years race after a closely fought battle with Kenyan Joyce Kandie. Kandie is returning this year and is odds on favourite to take the winners title especially after her recent victory by some two minutes in the Bath Half Marathon.
Joyce had a spectacular victory in the 2006 Belfast Marathon where her time of 2 hours 43 minutes 11 seconds was only beaten by the top 7 men. She will however want to make amends in Belfast following last years Marathon experience where a injury forced her to drop out after vainly trying to stay with record breaking winner Marashet Jumma of Ethiopia.
In a first for a Northern Ireland road race, a unique text messaging service has been introduced that will send a text direct to competitors’ mobile phones with details of their individual race position, official time and category position once the race is over.
Chipped timing will also be in operation- the tiny chip is attached to the runners’ shoe and their time is automatically logged as they cross the finish line ensuring reliability and accuracy of times and placings for all the participants.
David Seaton, MBE, Chairman of Athletics Northern Ireland, added:
“We always look forward to organising the TQ 10K which allows fun runners, joggers and club athletes to compete alongside international athletes in one of Belfast’s most interesting and historic areas.
Starting from Queen’s Road at 2pm on Sunday, April 5th, the TQ 10K course follows a waterfront route which includes Airport Road and Sydenham Road.