Lovely winter sunshine welcomed the North Down crew to the latest event in the ANI cross country calendar at Gransha Park.
Prior to the main race, where unusually the men and ladies raced together with all the upper age bands, the younger age group races took place and included sisters Jessica and Anna Scott in the u16 event. Jessica made a good run of it and made it onto the podium with 3rd place.
The main event on the day started refreshingly at 12:30pm, with over 250 athletes toeing the line. The ladies proved their worth with a team win on the day which should keep them top of the ANI xc league. Leading the ladies in was Rachel Gibson who managed to yet again cross the line in 2nd place – 4th time this season to four different winners! Ironically Rachel broke the pattern with a 3rd place finish at Dundalk last week, good job or paranoia would be setting in. This was a great catalyst for the remaining ladies to capitalise on and Katie Moore obliged with a strong 4th, Sarah Lindsay 7th and Melissa Eccles 14th.
Valerie McDonough tackled the relatively flat but sticky course comfortably to finish in 19th spot and Helen Byers made it round in 34th place with Lisa McMeechan 49th. Lynne Kerr was next in on 54th followed by Cara Jeffrey and Joanne Moran virtually finishing together in 56th and 57th
Clare Smith continued her love affair with cross country running to complete in 59th and Paula Simpson, who is also enjoying the cross country circuit, crossed the line in 75th. Noreen McCausland made it home in 93rd to consolidate the ladies team score and their strong position in the league.
The men, some of whom were intimidated by the ladies present in the same race, had a strong turnout considering the distant venue. Craig McMeechan enjoyed a break from the “age group” tour to record a great 5th place finish amongst the leading runners in NI which guaranteed a win in the U20 category. There was a strong grouping of our runners next with Jamie Budde making it in 21st, Dennis Scott just behind in 22nd, Francis Marsh 29th and Jamie McMeechan 39th. The final counter in the team was Mark Weir who finished 50th despite a hectic week of activity.
Young John Ewing was the next ND athlete to complete the course in 70th and trailing him was David Massey in 83rd.
The league points were added to with:
Colin Walker – 104th
David McMeechan – 116th
Philip Mulligan – 132nd
Alan Massey – 159th
Cliff McCausland – 195th
David McClements – 197th
James Barr – 209th
Michael Stevenson – 215th
With the next league race on January 14th at Greenmount there is a 4 week gap. Beyond that the only remaining league race, the Senior at Lurgan, is on 4th March so fingers crossed the club can get our runners out and particularly the girls, who can strengthen their position at the lead of the competition.