Ulster Schools XC, 19/02/25
The Ulster Schools cross country took place on Wednesday 19th February on the
usual Mallusk playing fields course. Although the cold weather had finally gone,
recent rain meant the course was quite muddy in places. A good number of club
athletes took part producing some excellent performances.
The day got underway with the mini (year 8) girls, where two Glenlola girls put in
great runs. Jessica Fowles came in 14th and Eve Sloan 39th . Then in the mini boys,
Isaac Hall of Methodist College Belfast (MCB) put in a strong run to finish 10th , whilst
Adam Downey of Bangor Grammar School (BGS) finished 137th. Jessica and Isaac
finished in qualifying positions, but due to a different school system in the Republic of
Ireland, they go no further. In the minor (year 9) girls, Sophie Rankin of Bangor
Academy became the first club member to qualify for the Irish Schools by keeping up
with the leading runners and finishing in 11th place. Lara Cheatley, also of Bangor
Academy, fell at the start but was picked up by a helpful fellow athlete and finished in
86th place.
In the minor boys, Seb Mair of Campbell College Belfast made a strong start and
was in 2nd place for the early stages of the race. However, he was finally overhauled
by Carter Rolston of BGS, who finished 6th . Seb still finished in 13th place and thus
both will head for Galway in March. Ethan Wiltshire of Sullivan Upper (SU) also ran
in this race, finishing 103rd .
In the junior (year 10) girls, Isla Wiltshire and Coco Smith swapped positions
throughout the race, eventually finishing 15th and 17th respectively. They both helped
lead SU to 2nd team place, meaning both qualify. Not far behind was Caitlyn
Dickenson (Glenlola), who finished 21st , with Freya Lowry of MCB coming in 47th.
In the junior boys, James Blease of SU finished 44th . In the intermediate (years 11
and 12) girls Holly Blease of SU ran her normal smart race and kept with the
qualifying pack the whole way round. She eventually finished 11th and will go to yet
another Irish Schools competition.
In the intermediate boys Alex Downey (running with the year above) was 6th and also qualified for the Irish Schools final.
Ethan Constable of BGS continued his recovery from a
long-standing injury to finish 43rd . In the senior girls (years 13 and 14), Sophie
Hamilton of Regent House finished 53rd , helping Regent House School to 3rd place in the
Senior Girls competition and also qualifying for the All Ireland final. In the senior boys Oliver Playfair of
SU put in a strong run finishing 7th and become the eighth club qualifier for the Irish
Schools.
Congratulations to all the club runners who worked so hard whether they were in a
qualifying position or not.
https://myrunresults.com/events/ulster_schools_xc_championships_2025/5638/results?fbclid=IwY2xjawIpd71leHRuA2FlbQIxMAABHYXBRsQbz9s759-RB9q8ZIIZEfpR1lJChpSHGCnHMkZoKRG78ti2hVpMFQ_aem_MO9E_buvUCVTCeFF2jmGVg
Jessica Fowles (left) 
Jessica Fowles & Eve Sloan
Sullivan Upper silver medal winning team – Isla Wiltshire 2nd from left and Coco Smith 3rd from left
Caitlyn Dickenson
Sophie Rankin
Coco Smith
James Blease
Holly Blease
Sophie Hamilton
Adam & Alex Downey
Jill Connolly, Transgrancanaria 22/02/25
After a superb race at the 82km Transgrancanaria Advanced Race last year, North Down AC’s Jill Connolly returned to Gran Canaria for the 2025 edition of this tough, mountainous ultramarathon. As well as running more than 50 miles through the mountains in daytime heat and navigating the trails at night by torchlight, competitors had to climb more than 4200m and descend over 4800m on their journey across the island.
With a mixture of hilly training runs at Cavehill, gym work on the stair master and speed sessions on the running track, Jill’s training paid off as she crossed the finish line in 15:52:19, taking more than 3 1/2 hours off last year’s time and finishing 67th female and 1st British woman!
Ultrarunning legend Courtney Dauwalter, with Jill Connolly
NI Senior XC, Lurgan 22/02/25
The NI & Ulster Senior Cross-Country Championships returned to Lurgan Park, where it was last held in 2019, offering up a testing cross-country course and highly competitive race fields. The senior women’s 6k race led championship proceedings where Katie Moore was the first North Down AC athlete home in 11th place. Tara McDonagh continued her improving racing form to place 18th, while marathon specialist Fiona McQuillan ran her usual well-paced effort to place 30th. Rachel Gibson, suffering from cold symptoms, battled on to close out the scoring four in 38th to help North Down take 5th place team of 14 teams. Junior athletes Holly Blease (59th) and Becka Laffin (71st) ran well to gain valuable experience over 6k in a big senior field where 137 finished.
The men’s 10k championship took place over 5 laps where Craig McMeechan led the North Down AC team home in 8th place. Thomas Paterson made a valuable trip home from his London base to round out one of his best xC races in 28th. Daniel Dines in 40th was the next North Down athlete home, followed by Finn Johnson in 50th. Alex Donald 59th and David McKeague 72nd closed out the scoring 6 to finish a respectable 6th team of 11, for a slightly weakened team compared to the clubs’ available talents across endurance running on the men’s side. The other men’s finishers were: Francis Marsh 75th, Aaron Beggs 77th, Dennis Scott 88th, David Massey 101st, Alan McConnell 103rd, Luke Dobson 122nd and Terry Eakin 129th out of 148 finishers.
In the junior races preceding the championship races Daly Seaton and Casey Seaton raced in the U11 races, finishing 2nd and 3rd respectively, but both claiming 1st place in their respective age groups with Daly winning the u11 boys and Casey winning at under 1o.
Logan Fowles was 1st U12 boy and Jessica Fowles was 2nd U14 girl.
The full results for the women’s team were Katie Moore 23:46, Tara McDonough 24:24, Fiona McQuillan 25:26, Rachel Gibson 26:20, Sarah Gibson 27:51, Valerie McDonough 28:18, Holly Blease 28:18, Stephanie Graham 29:03, Lisa Tomalin 29:20, Glynis Boyle 29:25, Becka Laffin 19:31, Olivia Cumming 30:01, Claire Scott 31:10, Heather Beattie 31:26, June McMinn 31:28, Marion Beattie 32:05, Wendy Neely 32:54, Paula Simpson 33:02, Beth Mulree 35:04 and Lisa McMechan 36:55. In the men’s race Craig McMeechan finished in 32:38 followed by Thomas Patterson 35:06, Daniel Dines 35:48, Finn Johnson 37:13, Alex Donald 38:10, David McKeague 39:03, Francois Marsh 39:08, Aaron Beggs 39:25, Dennis Scott 40:23, David Massey 42:17, Alan McConnell 42:27, Luke Dobson 43:34 and Terry Eakin 48:56.
On the same day in Falkirk, Luke McDowell produced another solid cross-country run to place 36th in the Scottish under 20 8k XC champs, representing Glasgow University Hare & Hounds.
Daly & Casey Seaton
Link to more superb event photos from Steven Donegan who is stepping down as Men’s Captain after 5 years in the role, ensuring that North Down has fielded the strongest team available in races over his tenure, not least winning the Intermediate XC earlier this year.
https://www.facebook.com/StevenDoneganPhotography
Malta Marathon & Half Marathon, 23/02/25
Cliff and Noreen McCausland swapped the cold, grey skies of Bangor for the Maltese sunshine last week. Naturally North Down AC’s long distance running couple weren’t just on the Mediterranean island to top up their tans, but to run the marathon and half marathon respectively. With temperatures reaching 27ºC both saved their energy for upcoming events and ran conservatively, with Cliff completing the marathon route from Mdina to Sliema in 4:46:58 and Noreen running the half in 2:27:03.
Cliff & Noreen
Irish National Indoor Championships, 22 &23/02/25
North Down’s Irish Olympian Rachel McCann won the second 400m semi final at the Irish National Indoors championships in Dublin on Saturday 22nd February in 53.63 finishing ahead of another Olympian, Phil Healey on 53.98.
In Sunday’s final the podium steps were all occupied by girls who have represented Ireland at the highest level in sport but although Rachel ran over a quarter of a second faster than in her semi final, Sharlene Mawdsley won in 51.91 with Phil Healey 53.25 taking silver and Rachel’s 53.37 secured bronze.
