District Schools XC
The rescheduled B District Schools qualifiers took place last week in Ormeau Park on Tuesday and Bishopscourt on Thursday, with athletes finishing in the top 15 in their age groups progressing to the Ulster Schools cross country on February 18th. Several North Down AC pupils were in action for their schools.
Methodist College, Belfast’s Isaac Hall was 2nd in the minor (year 9) boys and Freya Lowry (MCB) was 9th in the intermediate (years 11 and 12) girls.
The A District event took place on Thursday in the highly unusual setting of the Bishopscourt Racing Circuit. Whilst running on tarmac may not have been too much of an issue, the constant, cold wind was more of a problem and the motor racing circuit didn’t lend itself to spectating, so there were few opportunities to encourage the athletes. Nonetheless, there were some great performances by North Down runners.
In the mini (year 8) girls, Molly Rankin of Bangor Academy was the only club runner, but she
ran well to finish 9th and qualify for the Ulster Schools. In the mini boys, Robin Anderson of
Bangor Grammar (BGS) had a great run to finish 3rd . He was followed by another BGS pupil,
Ben Dumigan, who was 10th . Also running were Casper Pike and Eric Pinkett of Sullivan
Upper (SU) who finished 22nd and 24th respectively. Finally, Logan Fowles of Glastry finished
in 56th place.
In the minor girls, Catherine McBrinn of SU worked hard to finish in 2nd place.
Also qualifying were two Glenlola pupils, Eve Sloan who was 5th and Jessica Fowles who
was 15th . Eva Dickson of Our Lady and St Pats finished in 57th place.
In the junior (year 9) girls, Sophie Rankin of Bangor Academy continued her fine form by
winning the race by some margin. Also qualifying from Bangor Academy was Lara Cheatley,
who finished 10th . The junior boys was the last race of the day and two club runners fought it
out for 1st place. Seb Mair (Campbell College) had a good lead as he entered the final
straight, but in a fantastic race he was caught as he approached the finish by Carter Rolston (BGS).
The intermediate girls also saw a good battle in the home straight, as Caitlyn
Dickenson of Glenlola finished 6th , just ahead of Maia Johnson (SU) in 7th . Isla Wiltshire of
SU finished 13th so also qualified and, along with Maia, helped her school team finish 3rd .
Other club runners were Cadey Moore of Regent House (RHS) who finished 23rd and Abigail
Orr (35th ) and Lucy Williams (38th ), both from Glenlola.
In the intermediate boys, Ethan Constable (BGS) worked hard to finish in 5th place. Also
running was James Blease (SU) who was 26th . In the senior (years 13 and 14) girls, Holly
Blease kept up her recent great form by finishing in 4 h place. Also qualifying was Anya
Phillips (Glenlola) who was 10th and all-rounder Anna Moran (SU) who was 14th . SU was the
2nd girls’ team. Sophie Hamilton of RHS finished in 21st place.
The club had no official runners in the senior boys, but John Kinney of SU missed the intermediate boys due to a
change in the original timetable so ran in this race instead. Despite competing against older
runners, John still finished in a creditable 20th place.
Born 2 Run, Antrim Castle Gardens, 07/02/26
Event organisers, Born 2 Run, always deliver on their tagline of Great Races in Great Places, and their latest races in the 400 year old gardens of Antrim Castle with views of Lough Neagh and the ruins of Shanes Castle, were no exception.
Selina Patchett tackled the 5k trail race finishing in 32:57 and North Down clubmates Paula Simpson 50:46, James Gage 54:26 and Pat O’Driscoll ran the 10k.
https://www.born2runevents.com/run-forest-run-antrim-results/
Edinburgh Winter Warmer Half Marathon, 07/02
Abby Andrews ran with her sister Martha in the shadow of a chilly Arthur’s Seat on Saturday at the Edinburgh Winter Warmer Half Marathon. She completed the half marathon in 1:51:01, 9 minutes behind her little sister!
Sollentuna Ice Half Marathon, 07/02
While her mum was running in Edinburgh, Ella Andrews ran one of the most spectacular half marathons in Europe in Sollentuna, approximately 15k north east of Stockholm. As parts of the course cross frozen lakes, the course changes each year to take into account the thickness of the ice; this year’s race saw Ella and her fellow competitors run over 3 lakes linked by snowy trails. The seriously cool finisher’s medal is frozen in ice which melted as runners warmed up afterwards, to reveal the medal inside!
NI & Ulster Senior XC, Necarne Estate, 07/02
The NI & Ulster Senior Cross Country Championships originally scheduled for the Templemore Sports Complex were relocated due to building works to the historic grounds of the Nectarine Estate near Irvinestown on Saturday. The change of venue saw no change of pace from the speedy North Down AC teams who tackled the challenging 6k and 10k course in style. with both the male Club captains Claire Scott and Alan Massey assembled strong teams and fine individual and team performances saw both the male and female teams winning silver medals.
Tara McDonough was the club;s first finisher in the 6k race, finishing 3rd in 38:34. Rachel Gibson (13th) 41:02, Holly Blease (14th) 41:28 and Helen Byers (18th) 44:21 claimed the 4 scoring positions with Lucy Cheatley 46:04, Heather Beattie 46:38, Claire Scott 47:31, Kim McCourt 50:37, Jenny Keery 50:55, Kune McMinn 52:02 and Karen Keery 52:03 all performing strongly.
The scoring six in the mens’ 10k race were lead by Craig McMeechan (4th) 35:28, Ashley Dixon (8th) 36:34, Mark Carberry (11th) 36:52, Daniel Dines (12th) 36:53, Thomas Patterson (16th) 38:34 and Jamie McMeechan (19th) 40:07. Francis Marsh 42:42, Dean Varley 43:50, Dennis Scott 44:25 and Ed Mezetti 48:07 completed the excellent team performance.
https://athleticsni.org/Results
