Civil Service Championships: Men Finish 2nd and Women Joint 3rd in League

The clue was not in the title. On Saturday the Civil Service Cross Country Championships at Stormont incorporated the final round of the ANI Cross Country League but ironically it wasn’t cross country. For the second year in a row, heavy recent rain caused it to be held mostly on trails, with some muddy grass incorporated. It didn’t seem to bother the huge North Down turnout who collected 2^nd place in both men and ladies races with maximum participation numbers. Good results also came from the Juniors who included both U15 race winners while the girls shared the overall trophy with Springwell, combining girls results over the 3 age groups. Primary school children raced under their school affiliation but there were familiar names there also.

In the Junior Girls, Jessica Scott, Murphy Miller and Anna Scott were 2^nd , 3^rd and 6^th at U13 level while Mollie Brown, Lauren Hamilton and Anna McDowell were 1^st, 9^th and 18^th at U15. Craig McMeechan won the U15 boys and Reece Simpson was 5^th in the U17 race.

There were big field in both the mens and ladies senior races. In the ladies race, Jessica Craig was 4^th (3^rd open), Melissa Eccles 14th  and Katie Moore 7^th and 2^nd U20. That gave 2^nd place in the teams and combined with 12 finishers was worth 14 points in the league. Not quite enough to shake off Omagh Harriers who finished on the same points total and both clubs share the final 3^rd place in the league so there is some prize money. Catherine Roberts was 2^nd in the Open Category of the Civil Service Championships, which were included, Sarah Benton trumping it by winning the Masters Category. Catherine increased her overall lead in the North Down Grand Prix, in which Valerie McDonough moved up to 2^nd.

Finally the the mens race where an impressive 16 finished for North Down. They only needed a point to finish 2^nd in the league and ended up with 14. They took 2^nd in the team race with Stephen Wylie 8^th, Dennis Scott 11^th, Mark Weir 23^rd and 2^nd M40 and Nick Irvine 33^rd.  Corey Brown was 4^th U20, Terry Eakin 2^nd M60 and David Seaton 1^st M65. Second in the AAI League is the highest place reached so far in the Mens League. In the North Down Grand Prix, Nick Irvine remains 1^st and Dennis Scott is now ahead of Ben Caughers in 2^nd.

Full Results:  NICS AC ‘Stormont XC’ 2014 Results

Senior and Master Women 3.3 miles

 

Senior and Master Men 4.6 miles

 

Juniors U13, U15, U17