Top seven finishes by Jessica Craig and Lauren Scott augmented by heptathlete Katie Hewitt and a much improved Rachel Scott ensured the winning of the Northern Ireland and Ulster Championship for the Under 16 Girls team at Ballyclare. Along with the Newry girls, they also won the County Championship for Down. Nicola Simpson made a massive breakthrough to finish 8th in the Under 18 Girls race ahead of a host of more famous names. Others to qualify for the All-Ireland Even Age Group Championships include Harry Heyburn, Robin Brown and the Patterson twins.
The combination of Age Group Championships and the historic McConnell Shield produced a 12 race programme with massive fields. Despite heavy rain early on, the going was mostly firm except for the riverside section which got very heavy later. Organisation was excellent. Qualification to the All – Irelands was via the top 12 individuals, the top 3 teams of 4 and the top 3 counties of 6.Jessica was always in contention in the 2000m Under 16 race, eventually finishing 4th in 6.38. Lauren was 7th in 6.51, Katie 18th in 7.19 and Rachel 24th in 7.27. They were clear winners of the team prize as was Down in the Counties.
In the 3000m Under 18 race, Nicola produced the race of her life and looked so comfortable to boot. She was 8th in 13.55. A clearly unwell Kerry Iveston looked shattered but refused to give up and finished 17th in 7.27.As to the boys, Harry Heyburn was 9th in his first ever race, the 1000m for Under 12″s with a time of 3.46. In the Under 14 race over 1500m. Mark Patterson was 16th in 5.45 and brother Michael 18th in 5.51. They missed individual qualification but were both in the scoring 6 for County Down which was 2nd to Donegal.
Eleven year old Darren Kelly has an unfortunate birthday putting him out of the Under 12″s and with two days hospital treatment for a severe abscess, he did brilliantly to finish 33rd in 6.06. Robin Brown got his qualification in the 3000m Under 16 race with 11th in 11.36 with Thomas Simpson 44th in 12.59. Richard Gordon, 15 but with another unlucky birthday ran well in the 5000m Under 18 race for 31st in 21.34.