Over 1000 young athletes competed at City of Belfast playing fields, Mallusk, on Wednesday in the climax of the Ulster schools cross country races. Many of our runners were in attendance after most of them qualified from Kilbroney Pk earlier this month.
The boys and girls primary school races were ran first which included Niamh Fenlon and Oliver Smith.
In the first of the secondary school races Hollie Massey was 6th in the Mini girls, Daniel Playfair then ran to his potential coming 3rd in the Mini boys, Lukas Kenny was 9th and Nathan Semple 11th in the same race with Luke Swann 38th and the Campbell College trio of Barney Miller, Euan Adams and Euan Tyler 31st, 43rd and 44th respectively.
The Minor races kicked off with Tara McDonough coming in 4th when she looked like finishing farther back for a lot of the race. Freya Adams continued her good form with an 11th place finish, followed by Amelia Tyler in 16th. Katie Kimber, running for Sullivan Upper finished in 83rd. Bangor Grammar’s Adam Skelly was our only rep in the boys race coming in 20th.
Megan Briggs led the St Columbanus Junior girls team to victory with a great 4th place finish with sisters Caitlin and Alisha Turner backing up with 12th and 26th with Rachel Gillespie having a strong run to come in 21st. Both runners in the boys event were representing Bangor Grammar, Mark Carberry showing potential with a steady 27th finish and Ben Jenkins returning in 65th.
Performance of the day went to Murphy Miller in the Inter girls race where her strength and tactical skills brought her home in 1st. Great result and positive signs for Murphy.
Jessica Scott recorded 30th spot in the race which was a strong result in a quality field. Thomas Patterson made it home in 10th in the boys Inter in what was a very tight leading group and John Ewing was happy with his 27th finish.
The Senior girls race saw Beth Crosbie cross the line in 37th while Nia McNally completed the course in 45th. Craig McMeechan and Reece Simpson were running for Bangor Grammar in the boys race which turned into a tactical battle at the head of the pack. Any one of the 4 leaders could have won and Craig settled for 3rd place which led the BGS team to 2nd team place. Reece made it home in 42nd and will return to Mallusk as part of the BGS team.
All those finishing in the top 15 and the 3 top teams qualify for the Irish Schools cross country which is in Ulster this year, so returns to Mallusk on 11th March where yet again many of our athletes will be in attendance.