Grace Carson secures Silver in Milton Keynes!

The International Cross Country was held in conjunction with the UK Cross Challenge series which saw many high-quality races take place across all age groups, from U11 through to Masters.

NI & Ulster U18 champion, Anna Gardiner (East Down AC) had a great NI & Ulster debut coming home 13^th in the U20 race over 5000m with a time of 18:39. Matthew Lavery (North Belfast Harriers) led the team home with a comfortable top 20 finish in the U20 men’s race, finishing 14^th in 22:45 over the 7200m distance.

In the Senior races, the stand out performance among a number of impressive showings from the NI & Ulster athletes, came from Grace Carson (Mid Ulster AC) who finished 2^nd in the Senior women’s race just behind Alexandra Millard of England in a field which boasted Olympic and Commonwealth standard athletes.

In the men’s race Eskander Turki (Annadale Striders) and Andrew Milligan (North Belfast Harriers) came home both in side the top 20 in a strong Senior men’s field. They finished 15^th and 18^th respectively over the 9500m distance. Both have since gone on to register top 10 finishes in the recent Irish National XC which took place on Sunday 20^th November in Rosapenna, Donegal.

These strong performances bode well for the remainder of the XC season and for those who will be hoping to impress, including Grace and Andrew, at the British trials in Liverpool this weekend.

U20 Women 5000m:

Anna Gardiner – 13^th – 18:39

Marianne Doherty – 31^st – 20:25

U20 Men 7200m:

Matthew Lavery – 14^th – 22:45

Oisin Toye – 32^nd – 24:02

Kyle Thompson – 34^th – 24:08

Luke Kelly – 44^th – 25:06

Senior Women 7200m:

Grace Carson – 2^nd – 24:14

Hannah Gilliland – 31^st – 27:04

Rebekah Osborne – 41^st – 28:37

Senior Men 9500m:

Eskander Turki – 15^th – 29:22

Andrew Milligan – 18^th – 29:31

Craig McMeechan – 38^th – 30:41