Outstanding Performances at the British and Irish XC International and National XC Champs

On Saturday the NI Masters Association hosted the British and Irish Cross Country International which was held in the Billy Neill Centre outside Comber. NI athletes had some good individual results with podium finishes for Eamonn White M55 Laurence Johnston M65 and Terry Aiken M75. Ireland dominated overall taking the men’s and women’s overall titles.

Moving onto Sunday, Enniskillen Running Club hosted the Irish National Cross-Country Championships in Irvinestown. It proved to be a very successful day for our NI athletes despite heavy undulating conditions.

The U18 and U20 women’s race was dominated by Lucy Foster (Willowfield Harriers) who had a gun to tape run to take the title. There was delight for the home crowd as Annabel Morrison (Enniskillen RC) finished strongly for second. Both athletes secured automatic selection for the European Cross Country Championships which are being held in Turkey on Sunday 8^th December. Eva Bartlett (Lagan Valley AC) battled hard and secured fourth and won the U18 title. Emer Mckee (Willowfield Harriers) finished seventh overall and third U18.

The team standings were dominated by NI clubs, with Lagan Valley AC winning the U18 title and Willowfield Harriers second. In the U20 team Championships Lagan Valley were top once again and secured their place in the European Clubs Cross Country Championships.

In the men’s U18 and U20 Championships Frank McGrath (Lagan Valley AC) ran the race of his life to finish second. Securing a place in the Irish team for the European Cross Country Championships. Close behind in fifth place was Frank’s former teammate Lughaidh Mallon (UCD) who just missed out on fourth. Harry McKenzie (Enniskillen RC) ran well on home turf with eighth and third U18.

The Senior Women’s race saw a unique double with Ann Marie McGlynn (Letterkenny AC) who three weeks ago won the Irish Marathon title followed that up with a win in the National Cross Country. She will also be on the plane to Turkey in December. In the U23 race there were four NI women in the top ten. Roise Roberts (CNDR TC) was third, Rebecca Rossiter (CNDR TC) fifth, Hannah Gilliland (Annadale Striders) seventh and Aoife McGreevy (UCD) tenth.

There was drama in the men’s race. Nick Griggs (CNDR TC) and eventual winner Keelin Kilrehill (Moy Valley) broke away from the rest of the pack after 2k. Keelin’s relentless pace however proved too much for Nick who stopped briefly with just over 3k to go. Nick did get back running again to finish seventh overall and second U23. Matthew Lavery (North Belfast Harriers) had a fantastic run to finish ninth overall and fourth U23. Conall McClean (CNDR TC) finished eleventh overall and seventh Senior closely followed by Finn McNally (North Belfast Harriers) in twelfth overall and eighth Senior. Andrew Milligan (North Belfast Harriers) finished ninth senior and Callum Morgan (CNDR TC) fought hard to secure sixth place in the U23 race.

In the team standings history was created with two NI clubs finishing first and second. It was in 1955 that an NI club last won a National Cross Country Championship. A remarkable achievement for Candour Track Club given that this was their first ever competition that they had entered a team. The team made up of Nick Griggs, Conall McClean, Callum Morgan and Luke Kelly finished with 61 points with North Belfast Harriers team of Matthew Lavery, Finn McNally, Andrew Milligan and Conan McCaughey scoring 74 points. Both teams qualify for the European Cross Country Championships to be held in Portugal in February.