District A Schools Cross Country, 04/02/25
The rescheduled District A Schools cross country took place on Tuesday 4th of
February on the familiar but muddy Billy Neill course. A good number of club athletes
took part and there were some great performances.
The day got underway with the mini (year 8) girls, where two Glenlola girls put in
great runs to qualify for the Ulster Schools later this month. Jessica Fowles came in
4th and Eve Sloan 11th . In the mini boys, Adam Downey of Bangor Grammar
School (BGS) finished 71st and should qualify with his school team, which finished
3rd . There was only one club representative in the minor (year 9) girls, Lara Cheatley of
Bangor Academy who finished 11th and will therefore qualify for the Ulster Schools.
The first medal of the day came in the minor boys, where Carter Rolston of BGS
picked up a bronze by finishing 3rd . Also running was Seb Mair of Campbell College
Belfast (CCB) who finished 7th . Both qualify for the Ulster Schools and Carter’s BGS
was the 2nd team to finish. The biggest participation of club members came in the
junior (year 10) girls, where Isla Wiltshire (5th ) and Coco Smith (6th ) helped lead
Sullivan Upper (SU) to first place. They were followed by five Glenlola girls, Caitlyn
Dickenson, who finished 9th despite losing a shoe, Abbie Small (21st ), Lucy Williams
(30th ), Kate Reading (40th ) and Abigail Orr (44th ). Isla, Coco and Caitlyn will all be
competing at the Ulster Schools.
In the junior boys, James Blease of SU finished 14th , and qualified for the Ulster
Schools, and Bailey Duncan of CCB came in 38th . Again, SU were the first team
home. James’ sister Holly of SU took part in the intermediate (years 11 and 12) girls
where she was 7th , therefore also qualifying. Other club athletes taking part in this
race were Anya Philips (Glenlola), who finished 20th , and all-rounder Anna Moran
(SU), who was 34th .
The first gold medal of the day came in the intermediate boys when Alex Downey of
BGS kept up his fine form by winning the event despite losing a shoe in the
last lap. His club and schoolmate Ethan Constable managed to finish 16th despite a
long period of illness. Ethan will also qualify as BGS finished 2nd . Also taking part in
this race was John Kinney of SU who came in 62nd . The second gold medal came in
the senior boys (years 13 and 14) where Oliver Playfair of SU put in a commanding
performance to finish first. He also helped SU finish 2nd .
It was good to see the effort the coaches put in manifest itself on race day in this
school environment. Attention will now switch to the Ulster Schools that takes place
in Mallusk on the 19th of February, which will be followed by the Irish Schools in March.
Irish 50k Championships, Donadea 08/02/25
Donald Smith returned to ultramarathon running at the Donadea 50k race in Donadea Forest Park, Co Kildare on Saturday 8th February. The Irish 50k Championship race consists of a 10 lap course through the undulating trails of the forest park which runners must complete in under 5 hours. Donald finished in 4:37:35, a 21 minute PB over the distance.
https://www.popupraces.ie/race/donadea-50k-2025/
Stormont XC, 08/02/25
The latest cross country league race was held in the Stormont Estate with runners tackling the hills and mud in front of Parliament Buildings. North Down AC fielded strong teams across all the age groups with individual club members and teams enjoying success between the U13 and the M80 age groups!
In the 2k U13 races Isaac Hall was the first of the club’s finishers in 5th place in 7:14. Robin Anderson finished in 7:19 followed by Harrison Mair 7:33. Jessica Fowles (5th girl) in 8:01 and Logan Fowles in 8:04.
Alex Downey won his second XC race of the week, the U15/U17 event, crossing the line after 3k in 9:30 with Carter Rolston 10:35 and Seb Mair 10:40 also putting in speedy runs.
Caitlyn Dickenson was 1st in the U15 girls in 11:45 with strong performances from Anya Phillips 12:51, Abbie Small 13:01 and Lara Cheatley 13:16.
These excellent performances secured team 2nd places for the U13 boys and U15/17 boys with the U15/17 girls going one better to take 1st place in the team competition.
Club captain Claire Scott rounded up a superb turnout of the club’s ladies leading to a team 5th place against strong club competition. First of the female finishers over the 3.3 mile course was Katie Moore in 20:29 in 7th place. Fiona McQuillan 21:27 was followed by Stephanie Graham 23:23, Fiona McVicar 23:30, Valerie McDonough 23:37 and Sarah Gibson 23:49. Glynis Boyle ran 24:22 with Claire Scott 25:54, Heather Beattie 25:57, Marion Beattie 26:39 and June McMinn 26:42 closely followed by Paula Simpson 28:26, Kim McCourt 29:16, Lisa McMeechan 31:19 and Cara Jeffrey 31:25.
Terry Eakin was first in the M60+ race in 23:39 with Brian Smith pulling his spikes on and joining him in the M75+ category. Several years away from racing certainly hasn’t dulled his spikes as Brian took 2nd M75 place behind Terry in 32:07 while Norman Lellyet was the sole competitor in the M80 age group finishing in 35:46.
Garry Morrow led the senior men’s team to a 2nd place finish as the first NDAC finisher over the 4.4 mile course as he finished in 5th place overall in 24:11. Jamie McMeechan 25:20, Alex Donald 25:59, Declan Magee 26:05 and David McKeague 26:11 all put in excellent runs followed by Aaron Beggs 27:01 Steven Donegan 27:10, Alasdair Mair and Dennis Scott both 27:46 and Phillip Weston 34:28.
https://www.championchipireland.com/index.html#results
Sollentuna Winter Half Marathon, 08/02/25
Most of the club’s competing athletes feature in these pages at various points throughout the season in indoor and outdoor track and field competitions, road and trail racing or cross country with the occasional triathlon or adventure race to add a little variety, but Abby and Ella Andrews found a race that doesn’t fit into any of the drop down category boxes on the website; while the rest of their clubmates were racing along forest trails or muddy XC courses the adventurous Andrews completed a winter half marathon in Sollentuna, just north of Stockholm, on a frozen lake. The ice was 14cm thick and therefore safe enough to avoid the alternative route along lakeside trails and Ella and Abby ran approximately 15k of the course on the ice wearing tungsten carbide tipped spike ice grips over their shoes. They completed the half marathon in 1:53:12.
East Coast AC Junior XC, Larne. 09/02/25
The first of this year’s events in the popular junior XC races hosted by Larne based East Coast AC returned on Sunday 9th February. Several of the club’s youngest athletes were racing with some taking on their second race of a busy weekend.
Lochlainn Mair was 9th in the mini boys race and big brother Harrison was 1st in the minor boys while Reeya McQuillan was 12th in the minor girls. Eve Sloan was 2nd in the junior girls and Isla McQuillan was 6th. Caitlyn Dickenson was 2nd in the senior girls and Freya Lowry was 4th. It was another win for the Mair family with Sebastian taking 1st place in the senior boys race.
https://www.eastcoastathleticclub.co.uk/results
Irish University Indoor Championships, 09/02/25
The standout performance at the Irish University Indoor champs at the Sport Ireland campus in Blanchardstown on Sunday 9th February came from Paris Olympian Rachel McCann representing QUB. Rachel set a new women’s 400m championship record. After a swift 25.6s 200m first lap at the National Indoor Area track in Dublin, she held form brilliantly to take the university title in a new lifetime best of 53.31s. Karl Martin was another North Down AC medallist, taking a silver for UU in the men’s Triple Jump with a distance of 12.37m. In the men’s 3000m, Daniel Dines (QUB) equalled his PB with 9:13.0, with Francis Marsh (UU) clocking 10:10.5 in the same race.
Ards & North Down Sports Awards