IAAF Antrim International XC

The highlight of the Northern Ireland cross country season was played out at Greenmount campus in Antrim on Saturday. With races for the primary school age bands through to the senior events North Down were well represented.

 

In the ladies race Jessica Craig and Rachel Gibson were part of the Northern Ireland team, while also spearheading the North Down ladies league leaders team. Jessica finished 20^th overall and 2^nd Northern Irish runner with Rachel returning in 27^th place. Sandwiched in between was Jodi Smith who ran an excellent race to complete in 26^th. This reliable and consistent top 3 were ably supported by Sarah Lindsay in 32^nd, Valerie McDonough 42^nd and Claire Kennedy 47^th.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The remaining ladies who endured the treacle like mud and contributed to the ladies strengthening their league position were:

Sarah Benton 53^rd                     Clare Smith 85th                          Clare Russell 118th          

Fiona McQuillan 54^th          Melanie Patton 88^th

Helen Byers 69^th                      Caroline Crothers 98th

Jane Stevenson 74^th                Paula Simpson 110th

Lisa McMeechan 76^th                  Andrea Green 117^th

The equally high quality mens race had 19 ND runners competing against international talent including the Olympic 3000M steeplechase champion. Dennis Scott and Francis Marsh traded places for the whole race with Dennis crossing the line in 38^th, 2 places ahead of Francis. Jamie McMeechan wasn’t far behind coming in on 50^th spot and Ben Caughers had a successful return to racing with 57^th. Mark Weir had a good strong run to make it home in 80^th and David Massey continued his great run of form to finish 90^th and that made up the North Down 6 man team.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The remaining athletes to complete the race were:

Eamonn O’Reilly 103^rd         Donald Smith 169th

David McMeechan 113^th    Paul Galloway 174th

Frankie Rea 119^th                      Nigel Playfair 177th

Colin Walker 121^st                    Allen Cox 189th

Andrew Muir 153^rd                  Cliff McCausland 193rd

Keith Gilmore 153^rd                John McGarvey 197th

Alan Massey 157^th                Michael Stevenson 198^th

The best finishes of the day came from the junior endurance squad with Daniel Playfair finishing 8^th in the boys U13 race and Ollie Smith also finishing 8^th in the primary schools race and Ethan Kennedy was 37th.  Amelia Tyler was 13^th in the girls U13 race with Hollie Massey coming home in 25^th place in the same race.   Megan Briggs made a good run of it in the U15’s crossing the line in 23^rd and Niamh Fenlon was 14^th in the girls primary schools race.

Thomas Patterson was first home in the U17 boys, 18th with John Ewing following in 35th, Conor Brady 43rd and Cameron Jenkins 47th which was enough to give the boys overall 6th place finish.  Anna Scott was our sole representative in the girls U17 race where she finished 31st.  Craig McMeechan was also the only club runner in the boys U20 and finished in a very credible 9th with two years to go in the age band.

 

 

Antrim International XC