As all cross country runners know the playing fields at Mallusk have a micro climate of their own where the wind tends to blow stronger and colder and the rain tends to be heavier. This was expected to be the case on Wednesday for the Ulster Schools Cross Country final. The forecast was for a dry day but there was little surprise when there were a few drops of rain on the car windscreen as we neared the location. Braced for this usually cold micro climate everyone puts on layers expecting the worse. Instead one of nicest running days unfolded. There was virtually no wind and the sun shone providing some heat on the February day. The ground was firm with only a few muddy parts so ideal for fast running.

East Down had four juniors running for their schools; Jarlath Price in the Minor boys race (Our Lady & St. Pats , Knock), Alex Robinson (Down high school) in the intermediate boys race, Jacob Crawford (Down High School) in the Senior boys race and Anna Gardiner (Assumption Grammar School) in the Senior girls race. They had been selected on their performances at the District competitions two weeks earlier. Alex and Anna gained individual places by coming in the top 15 and Jacob and Jarlath achieved their places as part of their school teams.

The course has been the same over recent years and involves loops increasing in distance as the athletes become older with the distance increased from the District competitions.

Jarlath ran 2300m over one small and one larger lap. He had a good steady run and placed 37th in a time of 9.15 out of a field of 128 boys. His school team placed third with Jarlath fourth for the team and this has gained them a place at the All-Ireland Schools on the 9th March in Dublin.

Alex, who is in year 11, had to run 4.8km over three longer loops and was competing against 116 runners from years 11 and 12. He put no pressure on himself to qualify at the start of the race given he was one of the youngest runners in this category. He set off steadily and settled well sitting in 11th for most of the run. On the final lap he realised he was in contention for individual selection for the All Irelands and had enough energy to sprint past the runner in front to cross the line in 14th in a time of 17.30 pleased with how he paced the race. This has gained him an individual qualifying place for the all Irelands in Dublin. The next day he found out that on the back of his run he has been selected to be part of the NI & Ulster team to run in the London Elite Mini Marathon race which is held the day before the London marathon on the 20th of April.

Anna Gardiner had a busy running week having been selected as part of the N.I. & Ulster Senior ladies team to run at the Armagh International road race on Thursday. She thought she might get a by to the All Irelands Schools given her podium position at the Districts but this was not the case so she toed the line with 60 other girls at the start of the senior race over 3200m. She again showed her class and won the 3200m race in 12 minutes. Maybe it was just a warm up for the Armagh race the next day.

It can sometimes feel unfair that the senior boys (years 13 and 14) have so far to run. Jacob, together with his Down High team mates, sent off on the long 6400m, 4 loop course for the last race of the day. Jacob who is in year 13 had older runners to compete with but settled himself well. He placed 49th out of 81 runners. He was pleased with his run knowing he has another year in this category. His team placed fifth.

Armagh international 5k road races.

On a wet and cold Thursday evening the ‘great & the good’ of middle distance road running gathered at the Mall in Armagh for the Armagh 5k Annual International Road Races. Anna Gardiner, fresh from her win at the Ulster Schools Cross Country, joined female 3k runners from all over the UK in this hotly contested race. Anna had been selected as a member of the four strong NI & Ulster team with team mates Fionnuala Ross (Armagh AC), Nakita Burke (Letterkenny AC) and Edel Monaghan (DCH).

Megan Davies from Sale Harriers, won the women’s race with a time of 9:19 with Cardiff AC’s Cari Hughes’ late sprint taking second in the same time. The pre-race favourite Alex Bell said she found the conditions hard but held on for a bronze in a time of 9.21.

Anna finished in 27th overall in a time of 9.44 and was the first junior to cross the line. She said it was a fast paced race but really hard conditions especially pre-race made preparation difficult. All ladies got soaked to the skin and were freezing before the race started but thankfully the rain stopped for the race. Anna was delighted with her first Armagh road race given the conditions and is now looking forward to a few days rest to recover.

Juniors at Stormont cross Country

East down AC juniors turned out in force at Stormont estate on Saturday to run races that accompanied those of the last senior cross country fixture of the season. Conditions were expected to be very wet underfoot given the rain over the preceding days and heavy rain on the journey to the venue. Instead the sun came out and it turned out to be a lovely day for running with the ground only boggy in places. There were two junior races. The under

thirteens ran 2000m over two laps and the combined boys and girls U15 / U17 ran 3000m over three laps on the same course. In total 19 EDAC juniors attended adding many red and yellow vests to the packs of runners. A great sight to see.

First up was the combined girls and boys U13 race with 11 juniors taking part. The minimum age for this category was nine so it should be acknowledged that many runners were competing against those a lot older than them.

The results are as follows. Orlaith Kearney 9th in a time of 7.59, Amber Keown 11th in8.13, Alice Taylor 14th in 8.27, Tarynn Smyth 16th in 8.33, Annie Canavan 22nd in 9.01, Aoife Gilchrist 26th in 9.27, Annie Gill 30th in 9.59 Orlaith Gill 31st in 10.02 and Freya Cushnie 32nd in 10.01.

Shortly after was the combined U15 / U17 boys and girls race. There were two male juniors in the U15 race (Alex Robinson and Caelan Morgan), two U17 boys (Thomas Magee and Matthew Taylor) in the U17 race and five EDAC girls in the U17 race.

Alex Robinson cemented his successful week with a podium win in the U15 race with Alex Downey of north down in second and Nicholas Boyd of Willowfield in third. In fact he came third overall behind 2 U17 boys. Abigail Elliott came second in the U17 girls race behind Emily Morris of Willowfield with Sarah Gilchrist completing the podium in 3rd place. Thomas Magee narrowly missed a podium place coming fourth.

Results U15 boys :- Alex Robinson 1st (9.19), Caelan Morgan 6th (11.06).

U17 boys :- Thomas Magee 4th (11.00), Matthew Taylor 6th (11.37).

U17 girls Abigail Elliott 2nd (11.16), Sarah Gilchrist 3rd (12.19), Evie Cushine 4th (13.13) and Chloe Fleming 6th (14.22).

The next race for the juniors is the third McGrady race hosted by Newcastle AC in Tollymore this coming Sunday.