[Not a valid template]North Down AC claimed four podium finishes at the Northern Ireland Road Relay Championships on Saturday but the Club Captains were probably even more pleased with the huge club turnout. The club provided 6 men’s teams and 6 women’s teams’ in an event which more than doubled last year’s entry to 54 teams and was superbly organised by Orangegrove AC in Victoria Park. North Down were 1st and 3rd in the Women’s Masters event, 2nd in the Men’s Senior and 3rd in the Men’s Masters events and were just edged out in the Women’s Senior. All teams ran a 2 lap course of 3.38Km with men’s’ teams 4 legs and women’s 3 legs.
[Not a valid template]In the women’s Open, Jessica Craig got the team away to a strong start with 2nd place in a fast 12:01 min behind defending City of Lisburn. In the 2nd leg, North Belfast moved from 3rd to 2nd and Lagan Valley moved into 3rd and Melissa Eccles running 13:21 leaving North Down 4th. In a dramatic last leg, Gladys Ganiel Neal chased down a 45 sec gap to win it for North Belfast, Rachel Gibson ran 12:26 and overtook Lagan Valley to move North Down into 3rd, only to be chased down by Julie Turley for Dromore in the fastest leg of the day with North Down 4th in 37:48 min. The North Down B team were led by Kerry Speers in 6th with 13:24, followed by Sarah Benton who went to 7th, maintained by Andrea Thompson.
[Not a valid template]The Masters A team never looked like relinquishing the trophy they won last year Stephanie Hambling was 2nd in the 1st leg with 12:27, 4 seconds off the Dromore lead. Roberta Dornan moved into a big lead from Dromore with 12:22 and Debbie Matchett with 13:15 brought the team home in 38:04. North Down B were 4th after an opening 12:59 by Ali Robinson. Valerie McDonough moved the team into 3rd with 13:49, a position maintained by Ange Perrott with 13:35. Lynne Kerr opened for the D team with13:41 for 6th, backed up by Caroline Riddell (5th) and Jill Aicken (6th). The C team of Alison Downey, Frances Mitchell and Marie Devine was 9th throughout.
[Not a valid template]In the Senior men’s race, North Don, Annadale and Willowfield battled for the opening leg with Michael Dyer edging it in 10:01. Annadale subsequently moved ahead and maintained it and in the 2nd leg Francis Marsh was 3rd in 10:30. Niall Robinson brought North Down to 2nd with 10:17 which was safely maintained by James Budde at the end with 1:30. The B team started in 10th by Glen Willis, held by Chris Speers and brought up to 9th by Thomas Simpson and 7th by Denis Scott. Roger Dawson opened for the C team in 11th, with Mark Angus 10th and David Gray 10th. The D team was Michael Riddell, (20th), Andrew Muir (18th), Neill O’Driscoll (14th) and John McGarvey (14th)
[Not a valid template]In the men’s Masters event, Chris Bryan ran 10:49 for 3rd and Mark Weir maintained the position with 11:11. Douglas Grant dropped to 4th but only marginally with 12:01 and Francis Marsh took the team back to 3rd. Annadale were 1st and Larne 2nd and Francis claimed his 2nd medal of the day in 2 different events. The B team was Steve Wise (12th), Simon Robinson (10th), Tony Wall (12th) and David McMeechan (12th).
Michael had the 2nd fastest leg of the day, Niall the 7th and James and Francis the joint 10th. For the girls, Jessica was 4th, Roberta 6th, Rachel 9th and Stephanie 10th.
The earlier programme had a full range of individual age group races. Katie Moore was 3rd in the 3000m girls in 11:27. The North Down U17 youths in the order they finished were Corey Brown (10:50), Ciaran Farren (10:55), Craig McMeechan 10:59) and Jamie McMeechan (11:02).