The Carlingford Half Marathon and 10K

On a chilly but bright Saturday morning the runners who had entered the Carlingford Half and 10K gathered ready for the off. The course starts with a fair bit of climbing in the first 3 to 4 miles and then it levels off. There is a 4 mile stretch along the coast which is fairly exposed but thankfully there was little wind to trouble the runners on this occasion. The carriageway straight that leads back to the finish is a mental challenge as it is flat but seems never ending. With 790 in the Half and 230 in the 10K there was a good buzz.

6 EDAC members made the trip to take part and they all made it back in one piece. Seamus Savage led the charge and finished in an impressive 1.34.17 which placed him 106th overall. A great result for him. Cheryl Denvir with her usual stoic determination clocked 1.43.27. Robin Parsons paced the distance well and recorded 1.45.31. Next in was Janine Murray who was over the moon to carve a whopping 4 minutes off her previous best time. She finished in 1.52.24. Not far behind was John Taylor in 1.52.37. It is well known in the club that there is a constant battle for bragging rights in the Taylor household but Nuala his spouse in this occasion opted for a more enjoyable approach and was happy to let him take the win. She breezed in at 2.03.16 more than content to have completed the challenge. One for the diary for next year as it is a good day out according to reports.

Juniors

The McGrady Financial Services Junior XC Series 

On Sunday the EDAC Juniors flocked to Tollymore for the 4th of 5 races in the inter club series sponsored by McGrady Financial Services. The cold weather and snow that has been talked about a lot on social media all week never materialised and Sunday started with clear skies and actually felt quite warm. It was the turn of Newcastle AC to host. Since there had been a recent race held there the course was run in the opposite clockwise. The plan was for the sharp uphill section that was in the previous race to be taken away so the kids had an easier run but this is cross country. Instead a longer ascent was ahead of everyone at the end of each 800m lap and the race finished on the hill meaning there were some tired legs on the finish line. Everyone coped admirably with even some sprint finishes. 

EDAC Juniors do the club proud

East Down had 27 juniors racing across the age groups. It was great to see that as the ages increased there were more female participants from the club with 4 edac girls running in the final race. The first runner was Coen Canavan who placed 8^th in the primary 4 and under Boys’ Race.  Fiadh Kellett placed a fabulous second in the primary 4 and under Girls’ rRce with Rosa Canavan not far behind in 5^th. The Canavan family were out in force with Mack running in the Primary 5 race where he placed second, only 6 seconds behind the winner. Annie Gill was sole EDAC participant in the P5 Girls’ Race and ran well crossing the line in 5^th. Two Taylor girls (not related as far as I am aware) raced in the Primary 6 race with Isla coming in front of Alice this time in fourth and fifth place. Freya Cushie and Dillon Hynds ran in the Primary 7 combined race with Dillon placing fourth for the boys and Freya placing seventh for the girls.

Post Primary Runners

EDAC boys led the charge in the Year eight race with Jarlath Kearney, Luke Napier, David Morrissey and William Taylor finishing in that order. Caitlin O’Neill finished fifth in the Girls’ Race with Orlaith Gill in seventh. It was first, second and third for the year nine EDAC girls  with Jessica Martin finishing top of the podium, 22 seconds clear. Abbie Wilson finished strongly in second and Olivia Fleming completed the podium places in third. Four out of the six Year 10 runners came from EDAC with some school ski trips accounting for the reduction in runner numbers. This race started at the bottom of the long hill so although shorter in distance than the final race, runners still had to ascend the hill three times. Thomas Magee and Eoin Rooney grabbed the race by the horns and ran together pacing well. It was only on the last uphill that Thomas pulled away from Eoin finishing in first with Eoin not far behind in second. Cara Napier and Sarah Gilchrist also ran in this combined gender race and finished in second and third places respectively.

Oliver Robinson, Rebekah Wilson, Evie Cushnie, Chloe Fleming and Hollie Noade  lined up with four other runners for the final race of the day. This race was slightly longer than the usual 2000m at 2400m and is of the extra 400m wasn’t challenge enough they had  three hills to cope with. Ollie led from the start finishing in 8.42. Rebekah Wilson was the third female finisher followed by her teammates who all seemed very glad to cross the line at the top of the hill. Another great race day thanks to Newcastle AC. The final race of the series is the last weekend in March on Sunday 26^th.   Well done to all the EDAC runners and thanks to the parents for taking time to bring them. 

NI & Ulster Cross Country Championships

One of the most important fixtures of the Cross Country League, the NI & Ulster Senior XC Championships took place on Sunday at the Billy Neill Playing Fields in Dundonald. It was a bright day, cold but dry in fact perfect conditions for a run on grass. Mind you runners are a contrary lot and a few were heard to say that it wasn’t quite as muddy as they would have liked but you can’t please everyone. The course is purpose built with a variations of rises and dips, some more challenging than others so most find it testing but satisfying. 

EDAC Women’s Team

The women’s race was off first and the EDAC runners got plenty of support from the men who were warming up before their own event. Catherine O’Connor was the leadout runner for the team and ran well to take 5th place out of 147. She clocked 23.06 for the hilly 6K route. Caroline MacNabb was next home in 13th place in 24.03. Sharon Madine found it tough but enjoyable and was content with 32nd place in 26.42 while Niamh Kellett easing back to form after an injury ran a sensibly paced race to finish in 26.51 in 38th place. The 4 women were delighted to find that they were 4th out of 25 teams in the overall rankings. This is a commendable result so well done to them.

The Men’s Race 

East Down AC also had a solid men’s team out with 7 representing the club on the day. Neil McCartan toiled hard from the whistle and did well to stay in sight of the leaders. He came in 8th overall in 39.38. He was followed by Aaron McGrady in 40.08 (13th place). There were 162 finishers in total so a top 20 in this level of cross country is a hard fought ranking. Neil Curran ran a stead 44.44 to come 50th. Adam Withers was 73rd in 47.47 staying ahead of Martin Willcox 78th in 48.08. Ciaran Denvir hasn’t done much cross country recently but  gave it a good effort. He enjoyed the camaraderie of the team, placing 80th in 48.16. Daniel Giles completed the team round up in 86th place (49.19). When all the calculations were done the EDAC team placed 6th out of 14 teams.

Time to hit the Roads

That concludes the Cross Country League so it is over to road racing for the seniors. There will be a lot of pacing practice going on as Jimmy’s 10 looms large. The popular event takes place in the town on 12th March at 10.20. The Club will provide pacers for 40, 45, 50 and 60 minutes to enable runners to target their desired time. The entries are online  (https://register.enthuse.com/ps/event/Jimmys10K2023) until Wednesday 9th March. After this the only way to get a place will be to call at EDAC Club Rooms in person on Friday 10th March 2-8pm and Saturday 11th March 10.30 – 4pm. There will be NO on the day entries available. You can’t say you haven’t been warned.

East Down AC turn out for their Schools

As a result of their performances at the various District XC events over the last few weeks, many EDAC juniors achieved selection for their schools either as an individual or part of a school team to take part in the Ulster Schools XC Championships. This was held on a cold and blustery Wednesday at Mallusk Playing fields in Belfast. The course, which was very similar to that of last year,  comprised of loops increasing in distance to suit the ages of the athletes. Although dry it was bitterly cold and cross winds made running tricky at times. The tail wind in the closing sections of each race was most welcome and allowed for some fast finishes.

EDAC had nine runners representing their schools but running in school colours made it very difficult for supporters to spot them.  

First up was Jessica Martin running in the year 9, Minor Girls’ race representing Victoria College Belfast over a distance of 2000m. Jessica placed 59^th out of 98 runners.

The Junior Girls’ Race (Year 10 over 2300m) had the most EDAC runners. For all these girls it was their first experience at the Ulsters which can be quite intimidating but also a great learning experience. Sarah Gilchrist had qualified as an individual in the Districts coming 12^th for her school St Colmcilles, Crossgar. She placed 45^th out of 112 runners. Charlotte Barr and Erin Moore  both qualified as part of the Down High School team and came 41^st and 90^th respectively.

Alex Robinson and Thomas Magee were representing Down High school and Rathmore Grammar School respectively in the Junior boys race over 3200m. Both had qualified as individuals from the districts. Alex came 5^th in District A race and Thomas 14^th in the Belfast District. This was Thomas’s first Ulster race and he had put in a lot of hard training over the previous weeks. He came 67^th out of 134 runners; one of the biggest fields of the day and was pleased with his first race at this level. Alex, who seems an old hand at these competitions placed 20^th. Although initially a bit disappointed he acknowledged the blistering start made pacing tricky.

The Inter Boys’ Race (year 11 and 12)  saw Jacob Crawford and Oliver Robinson run 4800m in a field of 117 runners. Jacob achieved a bronze medal at the Districts and was looking forward to seeing how he could do with the best in Ulster. Oliver, who admits his training has been reduced due to rugby commitments, had placed 12^th at the districts. Both boys ran well staying close to the front in a very high standard field.  Jacob finished narrowly failed to get the All Ireland slot as he was 16th but he was happy with how he tackled it Oliver did well to finish in 20^th.

Anna for Gold!

Anna Gardiner was the only EDAC runners in the Senior Girls’ race (3200m.) She did not fail to impress and continued her current brilliant form by winning the Ulster Schools’ title. She went out hard to assert her authority and then controlled the race in a mature fashion keeping a close eye on the chasers. She crossed the line a comfortable 15 seconds ahead of second place. A worthy champion. 

Juniors at Stormont XC

At Stormont XC only a few days afterwards there were 2 Junior races; U13 followed by U15/U17 both combining girls and boys. EDAC juniors had 5 runners in total. Freya Cushnie went in the first race and gamely ploughed through to the finish still smiling as she crossed the line. Then it was over to Jacob Crawford (U17) and Alex Robinson, Abigail Elliott and Evie Cushnie (U15). The numbers were a lot lower than last year probably a result of the Ulster schools Cross country races occurring 3 days earlier. There were 5 in the U17 boys race with Jacob easily winning in a time of 9.37, 35 seconds ahead of 2nd place who actually placed 6th overall. Between Jacob and the 2nd  placed U17 there were 4 U15 boys. Alex came 4th in the U15 race (5th overall) in a time of 10.01. When races are combined it is difficult to know who is in your category and after the race Alex said he wished he had known he was in 4th or would have tried to close the gap to 3rd. He wasn’t sure if this would have been possible as he, like Jacob, was running his third race in seven days.   Abigail had a strong race finishing 6th U15 girl in a time of 12.23 with Evie 8th in 14.43. Well done to these Juniors for flying the EDAC flag with honour.