Ulster Schools Cross Country, 18/02
The Ulster Schools cross country took place last Wednesday in its traditional Mallusk location with the top 15 athletes in each age group (excepting the minis) qualifying for the Irish Schools cross country, also at Mallusk, on Saturday the 7th of March. Athletes had to contend with strong wind, driving sleet and rain and extremely cold conditions.
The North Down AC members rose above the weather to produce some excellent performances.
In the mini (year 8) girls, Molly Rankin of Bangor Academy finished 32nd. In the mini boys,
Ben Dumigan of Bangor Grammar (BGS) put in one of the best runs of the day, finishing
4th – this was all the more remarkable as his main focus is football and he rarely has time to
train with the club! He was followed home by another BGS pupil, Lewis Johnston, who was
111th . In the minor (year 9) girls, Catherine McBrinn of Sullivan Upper (SU) finished in 9th
place and was the first qualifier of the day. Also running were two Glenlola pupils, Eve Sloan
who was 25th and Jessica Fowles who was 39th, and Eva Dickson of Our Lady and St Pat’s,
who was 93rd. Isaac Hall of Methodist College Belfast was 24th in the minor boys.
In the junior (year 10) girls, Sophie Rankin of Bangor Academy had another great run by
finishing 6th and also qualifying for the Irish Schools. Lara Cheatley, also from Bangor
Academy, finished 63rd . In the junior boys, Carter Rolston (BGS) and Seb Mair (Campbell
College) had their usual battle before finishing 4th and 5th respectively and therefore
qualifying. In the intermediate girls (years 11 and 12) Caitlyn Dickenson of Glenlola finished
22nd , just ahead of Maia Johnson (SU) in 25th. Isla Wiltshire of SU finished in 52nd place. All
three were running against older girls and will have a much better chance of qualifying next
year. Also running was Cadey Moore of Regent House who was 87th .
In the intermediate boys, Ethan Constable (BGS) became the third boy from that school to
finish 4th and also qualified. In the senior (years 13 and 14) girls, Holly Blease worked hard to work up the field from 19th place to finish 15th . Her schoolmate, Anna Moran, finished 43rd but also qualified as SU were the
third team home.
Derry XC, 21/02
The final Cross Country league race of the season , the postponed Derry XC was held at Thornhill College on Saturday. The organising club, City of Derry Spartans, did a fine job of squeezing a 6k course into the school playing fields with senior male and female athletes running together, completing 4 laps full of twists and turns around the perimeter of a running track, football pitch and GAA pitch!
Caitlyn Dickenson and Eve Sloan were back in XC action after the schools race; in the 3k U15&U17 course Caitlyn was 2nd U15 and 3rd female overall in 12:54 and Eve wasn’t far behind in 13:01.
Simon Boyle was the first of the NDAC athletes to finish the 6k course in 34th place in 25:05, claiming 1st M60 honours. David Massey (1st M50) was 2 places behind in 25:37, narrowly ahead of Kevin Harkin 25:41. Colin Walker 27:17 was chased all the way by Philip Mulligan 27:24. Fiona McQuillan 27:25 was 1st F40 with Helen Byers 28:55, Donald Smith 29:20, Clair Quigley 29:23, Abby Andrews 29:47 and Alan Massey 29:59 the next NDAC finishers. Roberta Dornan 30:22, Sarah Wilson 30:26, Glynis Boyle 31:18 (2nd F60) Claire Scott 31:25, Heather Beattie 31:39, Marion Beattie 32:55 and Kim McCourt 33:18 were joined by the rest of the NDAC squad on the home straight to cheer in the final North Down finisher, Anna McKee 35:08.
English National XC Championships, 21/02
Finn Johnson, running for Hercules Wimbledon AC returned to England for the English National XC Championships in Sedgefield, Co Durham on Saturday. In a packed field of over 1000 athletes in the senior mens’ 12.4k race, Finn finished 370th in 48:14.
Ballygalget 10k, 22/02
The latest Ballygalget AC 10k took place on Sunday morning on the undulating roads around Portaferry and Cloghy. Starting and finishing at the GAA club, NDAC’s Maol Larkin was 4th in 37:34 and Roberta Dornan switched her cross country spikes for road shoes to finish 2nd female in 47:06.
NI & Ulster Juvenile AG Championships, Blanchardstown 21&22/02
Several of North Down AC’s junior athletes had a much slower journey home from the National Indoor Arena in Blanchardstown as they had to carry a clutch of medals with them on their way back to Bangor!
Sophie Rankin won the U15G 800m in 2:26.03.
Harrison Jamison took gold in the U19 200m with a PB of 23.57. He collected silver in the 60m in 7.33 and a 400m bronze in 51.74.
Curtis Hughes won the U19 60m with aPB of 7.30.
Roger McMullan was another gold medallist winning the U19 long jump with a best jump of 6.71m.
Tomas Montgomery took gold in the U18 400m with a PB of 52.99, and 4th in the 200m in a new PB of 23.93.
Ethan Constable won silver in the U17 800m in 2:06.12 and bronze in the 1500m in 4:30.68.
The U19 boys 4x200m relay team of Hughes, Montgomery, McMullan and Jamison won gold in 1:37.48.
Anna Moran was 1st in the U19 60mH in 10.86 and she added another gold in the long jump with a best jump of 4.51m. She took silver in the shot put with a best throw of 8.04m.
Maia Johnston also took on the 800m/1500m double in her first indoor meet taking 6th in the 800m (2:39.99pb) and 5th in the 1500m (5:33.28.)
Joshua Liggett added another gold medal in the U19 60m hurdles in 9.67.
Throwers Dominik Lipowski 12.36m, and Jason Smith 11.75m won silver and bronze respectively in the U17 shot put and Emma Reid won silver in the U17 girls with a throw of 11.00m.
Maisie Rainer was another gold medallist in the U18 triple jump clearing 10.29m.
https://connaughtathletics.com/2026/ulster/competition.php