East Down fielded 5 teams in Saturday’s Relay Championships and in spite of several cry offs and the non-availability of several of their top runners, all the teams performed creditably well, one in the Senior Open, two in the Master’s and two in the Ladies masters categories. Neil McCartan, Brendan Teer, Paul Burns and Michael Cultra made up the quartet in the Men’s Open race which was a hotly contested event.
Unfortunately at the time of writing the detailed results have not been published so am unable to comment on individual splits etc. though everyone gave of their best on the day. The Men’s race was won by North Belfast Harriers from St Malachy’s and Willowfield and the Ladies Open was won in a new record time of 36.10 by North Down AC.
JUNIOR RACES
Several junior members took part in the age group races which preceded the Relay races and their performances certainly were inspirational for the seniors later on. Anna Gardiner ran a tremendous race for a top ten finish in the Primary School Girls, running against girls who in most cases were 3 years older than she and Mackenzie Murray who took a great 6th place in the Primary Boys race. Both were delighted afterwards to meet the legendary Olympic Gold Medallist Dame Mary Peters.
The Under 15 Boys and Girls races of one lap, just over 1 Mile, were also opportunities to assess how training is paying off and saw Aoife Cochrane, Laura Green and Ella Carroll all finish in close proximity in the Under 15 Girls while Daniel Atkinson sole representative in the Boys equivalent did equally well. Laura Gardiner improved the mood even more with a convincing victory in the Under 17 girls race over a 2 lap distance.
NEXT WEEK
The Cross Country League kicks off on Saturday 11th October with the reinstated Comber Cup promoted by the resurgent Ballydrain Harriers at the Billy Neill Playing Fields near Dundonald. East Down will be fielding a strong team, first 6 to count, in a bid to claim the coveted trophy and will also participate in the Primary School, Under 16 and Under 18 Boys and Girls races.
Joe Quinn
6 October 2014
For more photo’s see the link below;