West Belfast Coolers

23/09/2026

A brilliant event…..get yourself in the ballot! 🤩

One week to put your name in the race for CPH Half 2027.

The lottery closes on 30 September.

Registration is free. Your next finish line could be Copenhagen in 2027.

Register here: https://cphhalf.dk/en/lottery/

22/09/2026

Busy weekend anyone??
We were so flat out I’ve not even had time to tell ya everything!! Get comfy, long post incoming!! 😆

*Belfast Half Marathon, 20th September*

A run greatly enjoyed by everyone year after year. The sun was shining on over 7000 runners of which we had 17 Coolers going the distance and absolutely smashing it. For some this was their first half marathon.

Conor Lawless completed his first half marathon, pretty sure it won’t be his last.

All the hard work and training certainly paid off as there were personal bests from Rab Duffy, Lucy Loughens, Deirdre Phillips, Deirdre Nic Giolla Bhéarshiúligh, Chris Byrne, Ciaran Cullen, Martine McNally and Dave Murray
Many congratulations to you all, plenty of reasons to celebrate! 🎉🤩🏃🏻🏃‍♀️🏅

*Copenhagen Half Marathon, 20th September*

Somewhat further afield we had a squad completing the Half Marathon, 5k and 1 mile races.
19 Coolers grabbed their passports and headed for Copenhagen, Denmark 🇩🇰 what an experience they had.

Part of the World Athletics Road Running Championships, 3 events over 2 days saw thousands descend on the city. Quite the experience to see the elite runners speed by, blink and you would miss them.
Kathleen Magee ran in the 5k with Gerard Cochrane taking on all 3 races!! Go ahead!!
Medals galore there 🥇🥈🥉
The course itself was great with only one wee teeny tiny hill and the most epic shower of rai….EVER!! Soggy feet and wrinkly hands!!!

Ava Finnegan ran her first half marathon and will continue on in the Superhalf Series. Best of luck girl, not that you’ll need it.
Angela got herself a superhalf PB.
Philly McNally got herself a PB too, congratulations to you both!
Big shout out to our cheerleader, photographers and of course our coaches.

Wee easy run tonight folks!!



*all words are my own* 🤩

Copenhagen Half Marathon
Belfast City Marathon
SuperHalfs

💚🖤

20/09/2026

Who ran in Copenhagen yesterday?
Kathleen Magee did!!

Cooler’s vest on……she joined 11,000 runners for the 5k route.
She had a smile on her face the whole way!! She even managed to get herself a wee woman from Derry to run along with.
Absolutely delighted for her, congratulations girl!!

💚🖤

19/09/2026

It’s late now….well, it is here in rainy Copenhagen. All the training has been done, race packs picked up, litres of water guzzled and all the pasta & pizza devoured!!
Tomorrow we will run and enjoy every moment!
Wishing all our runners and cheerleaders the very best, we can compare notes soon!!
💚🖤

18/09/2026

Where we off to now?


💚🖤

16/09/2026

... just over 1km to go as you pass the stunning and iconic 'Ess-Na-Larach' waterfall. Have you entered yet?

🏃‍♂️ RACE OVER THE GLEN 2027 sponsored by JB Door Systems 🏃‍♀️

Start 2027 with a challenge!

Join us on Friday 1st January 2027 for the Race Over the Glen — a challenging 10K technical trail race through the stunning Glenariff Forest.

🌲 10K Technical Trail Race
📅 Friday 1st January 2027
📍 Glenariff Forest
🏃 Hosted by Ballymena Runners AC

Make your New Year’s Day one to remember and take on the Glen!

🎟️ Entries are now open via SiEntries:

Race Over the Glen
https://share.google/gpcKNzoKnEVlBxLuw

We look forward to welcoming runners to Glenariff to start 2027 on the trails.

Raising funds for Air Ambulance Northern Ireland



📷 Tim Lowry

14/09/2026

🏆👻 THE PARTICIPATION BATTLE IS HEATING UP! 👻🏆

The latest standings are in for the 2026 CCU Galloper Thompson 5K Participation Challenge! 🔥

🏆 CURRENT STANDINGS
🥇 Scrabo Striders Running Club
🥈 CRC - Carryduff Running Club
🥉 West Belfast Coolers
🥉 North Down Athletic Club
4️⃣ Belfast Frontrunners
5️⃣ Mallusk Harriers
6️⃣ Ward Park Runners
8️⃣
8️⃣ Jog Lisburn
9️⃣ anon

The battle is wide open! 👀 There’s still plenty of time to climb the leaderboard, so rally your club, recruit your teammates and get those entries in! 🏃‍♂️💨

The winning club will claim the Participation Challenge crown AND FREE ENTRIES for the 2027 race! 💀🏆

🎃 Enter if you dare: www.GT5K.com

Proudly sponsored by:
🏦 CCU Credit Union
🎃 Elliotts Fancy Dress
🎤 Cavehill Comedy Club
🌾 Thompsons Feeding Innovation
💇‍♀️ Franklins Retail
🛋️

14/09/2026

This is our new member Cara with her husband and daughters.

Cara took part in day 2 of “Rory’s miles to Mayo” - led by rugby legend, Rory Best, achieving 26.2 miles.

The full walk challenge is 9 marathons in 9 days, covering over 235 miles throughout Ireland.

Funds raised throughout the 9 days will help to ensure that no child faces cancer alone.

This is the final chapter in a trilogy of fundraising walks by Rory and a team of business leaders for Cancer Fund for Children.

A wonderful thing to do Cara, well done, we hope the legs aren’t too sore and tired today.

Cancer Fund for Children

💚🖤

13/09/2026

Weekend shenanigans!
We had Rab Duffy taking on the Born 2 Run ‘break for the border’, then himself and Ciaran running 10k in Craigavon St Peter's AC Lurgan ‘Rock the Lough & Lakes’.
Deirdre, Louise, Mick, Peter, Bernie and Paul were in Portferry this afternoon running Abi's Butterfly Breeze 5k & 10k. By all accounts there was a ‘nasty hill’ but was soon forgotten about once the after race treats were offered!! Who doesn’t love a wee bun after a run!?
Congratulations to you all.
Well done to everyone else out running this weekend….one week to go!!

💚🖤