Almost 800 runners, many wearing Father Christmas and elf costumes, crossed the finish line at the landmark Belfast venue.

Ann Egan’s selfless and unflagging work in promoting the weekly Ballina parkrun has been acknowledged at a national level by the Irish parkrun community. Ann has been presented with the VHI Parkrun Hero Award for the month of March.

It was nine years last week since 129 runners and walkers first set off running Belleek Woods and thus was born, Ballina Parkrun, an event which, in the words of Ann Egan, Ballina’s event director has “grown into one big happy Parkrun family”.