Belfast

Hi Jackie,

I apologised regarding this on Facebook on Tuesday, so to come on here and see it again (in even more detail) is quite disappointing. I wasn't going to reply but after spending the morning questioning if the whole weekly summary thing is worth the hassle, I feel as if I want to clarify what happened this weekend.

I understand that you are disappointed and frustrated about it, but do not let the fact that it was not in the paper take away from your magnificent achievement... for which I would like to congratulate you!

I do try my absolute utmost to get as much detail as I can prior to compiling the weekly summary, on busy weekends this takes up to 2hrs (hunting results and sifting through info incase a Larne AC person has raced, but not entered under the clubs name). This weekend was slightly different....

With the sponsorship issues surrounding the Belfast Marathon OFFICIAL results, I had to wait until Tuesday morning for them. The ones released on Monday night were unofficial/provisional, and you can bet your bottom dollar if I had of printed those times, I would have been pulled up by someone had the official times said something different.

On Tuesday morning, I had an appointment in Belfast at 8.55am. I expected to be home for 10am at the latest, which would have given me a full 2hrs to sort the summary but due to an accident on the West Link on the way home, I did not get back until just after 11.15am... I had to have the summary and pics into the Larne Times by 12pm at the VERY latest. So, in 45mins... I had to get the computer on, find official results... sift through them and write the summary (and touch up the photos to make everyone look beautiful - hard job, I know!). I quickly noted down everyone I had SEEN on Monday... and texted a member of the relay team to see who was involved in that. As there are no club names listed on the results, I would not have had time to do it any other way... sifting through 3,500 names takes a while.

In the rush, I forgot Billy... I felt bad about this as I was talking to him before the start! Totally my mistake, for which I take full responsibility. I have since spoken to Billy.

Regarding Brian... Some people do not like to have their withdrawal from an event publicised (I have been criticised for this before), and as I do not have contact details for Brian, I was unable to check this out with him.

In relation to your good self, Kerry and Thomas... I did not know you or Kerry were doing the marathon. I have never even had the pleasure of meeting Thomas, so how could I of known he was doing it? I hope this does not sound bad, or cheeky; but in truth, I do not think it was any of the spectators responsibility to tell me you, Kerry and Thomas were running, I think it was the individuals responsibility.

This is something I said a while back, I really need people to be more open about what they have done and what their plans are etc... it just takes a quick email! I have found myself asking people at club events or on FB what they have coming up (so that I know where to check, or what results to look out for) but it's like asking for the code to the city vaults, people are just SO secretive! I totally understand that some people race at short notice, but all it takes is a quick email to say 'I done this'... then I am more than happy to go and find the results!

I will be adding your results to next weeks summary, as well as details of Adele's brilliant performance at the weekend (which I only found out about last night!).

Guys... It's your club, your weekly summary... I want to make ALL of you (not just the 'U Bolts') and Larne AC look good in the local papers but without YOUR help, I can't always get it 100% correct!