from Athletics Northern Ireland Bangor’s Roberta Dornan, who came from nowhere to win the Runher 5K in June, will be back on Sunday morning in Ormeau Park(11am start) looking to do the double at the Belfast Telegraph 8K . “There’s no doubt,” says the 33-year-old clerical officer, “ that winning the 5K meant a lot. Compared to some women club runners, it may not have been that quick a time – I realise that. But,for me,it was the icing on the cake of my season.”
Dornan, who was snapped up by the North Down club after her win, had a remarkable journey into running. In 1996 she was badly hurt when she fell from her horse while training to be a riding instructor. She was in a body cast for 6 months – and it was 5 years before she was declared fit to begin running.
Dornan will have to watch for another ‘unknown’ coming out of the pack; and she’ll no doubt also keep an eye on North Belfast’s Jill Shannon. But the former Irish marathon champion has been consumed by injury over the last 18 months, and will only use the race to see how far along the road to recovery she has come.
The event will see the first outing since Beijing of Paralympian Karen Cromie. The 29-year-old from Fermanagh, who broke her back in a fall in 2002, will switch from the rowing, where she just missed out on a medal, finishing 5th in the final, to a hand cycle which she uses a lot in training to get round the two-and-a-half lap Ormeau course.
Race Director Michael Jenkins feels that Karen epitomises the spirit of the event. “ It’s all about the shared experience of taking part,” says the Up and Running owner. “ We were delighted that 700 women took part in June and we think we’ll get close to that on Sunday despite that extra 3K.”
The event, which now has the backing of Sport NI, will be started by four time blind water skiing world champion Janet Gray –who is determined to take part herself despite a broken wrist sustained while preparing for the Euro Champs in Italy in August.
Also taking part are Dame Mary Peters , Stormont Assembly MLA Dawn Purvis, UTV’s Siobhan McGarry and Jeannie Johnston and Cool FM’s Kirstie McMurray.
The Runher charity is CLIC Sargent for children with cancer and entries will be taken up to 10.30am on the day in the Ozone.