Both Senior Men and Ladies Teams had good results on Saturday at Ballyclare when East Antrim Harriers promoted the 77th McConnell Shield. The Shield went to North Belfast with North Down 2nd and Larne 3rd, with Francis Marsh 10th and Chris Bryan 12th leading the way. Roberta Dornan 2nd and Stephanie Hambling 3rd led the ladies team to another victory from Dromore and City of Derry. The good placings, combined with a healthy collection of bonus points, mean that in the Cross Country League after 2 rounds, North Down men moved up to 2nd, 6 points behind North Belfast and the girls extended their significant league at the top. The youngsters also contributed with a U16 win for Abbey Taylor and good runs by Craig McMeechan, Claire Francis, Jamie McMeechan and C McCauley.
A beautiful sunny day after recent rains left the course pleasantly yielding. In the opening U14 race over 1 mile Craig was 5th boy and Claire was 6th girl and in the 2 mile U16 race, Abbey was 1st girl and Jamie 4th boy. Ladies and men over 60 ran over 3 miles with the North Down girls Roberta 2nd, Stephanie 3rd, Debbie Matchett 8th, F35 winner Ange Perrott 9th and Rachel Gibson 12th. David Seaton, Brian Smith, Fred Murdock and Norman Lellyett were 1st, 2nd. 3rd and 6th at M65 and Ken Hawtin took the M75 prize.
North Down men had 8 finishers in the 5 mile McConnell Shield worth 4 bonus points. Francis and Chris were 8th and 10th, Glen Willis 17th and Darren McKee 23rd, taking 2nd team prize. Chris Speers was 32nd, Gerry Coy 38th, John McGarvey 65th and Frank Dillon 74th.