Co Antrim runners complete prestigious European SuperHalf marathon series

By Stanley Campbell

Co Antrim runners complete prestigious European SuperHalf marathon series

Bernie Duffin, who runs about three days a week, has been marshalling at major road races for some year, but decided to give the running series ago. Encouraged by fellow runner Adrian Dodds, from Ahoghill, Bernie competed in the Lisbon Half (13.1 miles or 21.1 kilometres) on St Patrick’s Day 2024. “We had never heard of the SuperHalf series but started to receive more information about it and so we entered the other races,” she explained. The SuperHalf series, launched in 2022, comprises of six half marathons at city venues across Europe. After Lisbon, and over the course of just a year, they raced through Berlin, Copenhagen, Cardiff and Valencia before crossing the final finish line in Prague in April of this year. With more than 100,000 runners registered to take part, only 1,113 have successfully completed all six races – placing Bernie and Adrian in an elite group of finishers, potentially the only SuperHalf finishers in Northern Ireland. “We could be wrong but I don’t think anyone else from Northern Ireland has completed all six races in the series,” she said. After taking up running in 2016, Bernie was heavily involved in Moneyglass and District Runners but unfortunately the club folded during the Covid-19 period. She says she is not interested in achieving personal best times, just fitness and mental wellbeing. Their next race is Amsterdam where they hope to run a seven-and-a-half kilometre race and marshal at the marathon.

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