Clergy take part in Belfast Marathon
Hearty congratulations to two of our Down & Dromore clergy, Arthur Young and Norman Jardine, who took part in the Belfast Marathon. They were amongst the 13,500 taking part in the event which this year was celebrating its 25th anniversary. Arthur, who is rector of Tullylish parish, ran in the men’s event and Norman, who is rector in St Jude’s, Ballynafeigh, undertook the marathon walk.
Arthur, and his team from Tullylish, will be putting their sponsorship money towards a visit in July to Croatia, where the parish has a link. Arthur ran the 26 miles in an impressive 3 hours and 41 minutes, (the Kenyan winner took 2 hours and 16 minutes). Two other parishioners also ran in the event, while a group of young people took part in the team relay. A further 12 parishioners completed the marathon walk.
Norman, who is a member of a team going out to Rwanda in July, undertook the marathon walk to raise funds for the trip. He completed the full marathon route in a fast 6 hours and 43 minutes, well inside the 9 hour limit walkers are required to complete within!
The marathon route of 26.2 miles, passed twice through Belfast city centre and then into parts of north, west and east Belfast. The marathon walk is a non-competitive event and has two walk distances of 13 miles and 26.2 miles. The team relay event is for between 2 and 5 people, taking the same course as the main marathon race.