[Not a valid template]North Down couldn”t retain the McConnell Shield on Saturday but were 2nd this year in a far stronger competion. The promoting club must have been delighted with the numbers and the quality as it was the strongest field for several years. The scoring four of Niall Robinson, James Budde, Francis Marsh and Alex Donald finished 2nd to Annadale Striders and were thmselves only a point ahead of City of Derry so there had been plenty of scope for any one of them to go wrong. Other positives included 3rd overall for Niall, a finishing B team, near domination in the ladies race, a clutch of category wins, a win in the U16 race and some steady results in the junior races.
[Not a valid template]The weather had deteriorated by the time of the meeting with steady rain and heavy ground. In the 5 mile McConnell Shied Niall was 3rd in 26:44 min, James 16th in 28:06, Francis 19th in 28:14, Alex 27th in 29:25 with another four club runners a bit back. The 3 mile ladies race included men of 60 and above. For the girls Jessica Craig was 2nd in 19:05, Roberta Dornan 3rd and 1st F35 in 19:15, Stephanie Hambling 4th and 1st F40 in 19:22 min. Nicola Simpson had probably her best cross country race for 7th in 19:58 with the powerful North Down trio of Debbie Matchett, Julie Balmer and Ali Robinson a place or two behind, not a bad display of depth. Terry Eakin was the class of the M60″s, taking the category win as did David Seaton in the M65″s.
Glen Willis was a clear winner of the 2 mile U16 boys race which also included Jamie McMeechan. There were also useful runs in the 1 mile U14 girls race from Katherine Kirk and Claire Francis and from Charlie Quinn in the U14 boys. Competing in a different arena was Abbey Taylor who was at the even age group Championships in Scotsttown, County Monaghan. In the U15 race, Abbey was 14th (3rd County Down runner) in 14:57 min.