JUNIORS PROVIDE INSPIRATION TO THE SENIORS AT BALLYCLARE

As many of the younger junior members were away to Dublin for the All Ireland Even Age Group Championships only 2 East Down runners took part in the Age group races which preceded the Malcolm Cup Senior Cross Country races at Ballyclare on Saturday afternoon. Edie Carroll (Under 17 Girls) and Mackenzie Murray (Under 15 Boys) were the two to turn out and both produced eyecatching and morale boosting performances. Edie was coming back after an Achilles injury, with all the concern that can have, but she was pleased to feel herself strong and pain free throughout and was rewarded with second place.

Edie Carroll (2nd in the U17 Girls)

Mackenzie ran a well paced race making a tactical burst as they approached the tree lined last section. The twists and the uphill were the right moment to do it and it enabled him to pass the athlete in second and take the number two slot on the podium. Great racing from both young harriers which provided inspiration for the seniors who were watching  and had yet to run.

Mackenzie Murray (2nd in the U15 Boys)

NEIL STARS IN MALCOLM CUP

After placing 4^th on the last 2 years in the Malcolm Cup fixture organised by Annadale Striders, East Down’s Neil McCartan was determined that he would at the very least take a podium position in this year’s renewal on Saturday.  He made his intentions clear from the start setting off at the head of the huge field of almost 200 hundred runners.  He was joined by a quartet of serious looking contenders for the title amongst who was Conall Kirk, his regular training partner under the expert eyes of Conall’s Dad, the redoubtable Mark Kirk. Johnny Whan, City of Lisburn, Eoin Hughes Acorns and Lorcan Magee Beechmount made up the leading group at the end of lap1 of 4.

FINAL LAP

At the end of lap 2 the top group had been reduced to 3, as Neil applied more pressure as he sought to make the decisive break. At the beginning of the final lap he looked to be in a strong position with only Kirk now in contention. But when they emerged from the long loop around the far end of the course it was Kirk who was leading by 10 to 15 metres, though as they passed by about 400 metres from the finish and headed for the hill through the trees, it was noticeable that the gap had started to close. After what seemed like an age they emerged from the trees again and it was the Red and Yellow East Down colours which were the first to show. Somehow, not only had he closed the gap on Kirk but Neil had overtaken him and established a rapidly increasing gap of 10 metres. What a turnaround this was! It was to great applause from his club mates and indeed most of the spectators who watched the finish that Neil not only improved his previous year’s position from 4^th but also won the race outright! It was a famous victory with Kirk taking second place 8 seconds behind in 20.40 and Whan a further 4 seconds behind that again in 20.44.

Neil McCartan 48 ahead of Conall Kirk 206 and Jonathan Whan at Ballyclare.

 HOW DID THE OTHERS DO?

And of course there was the rest of the East Down squad still to come as this was a League fixture and team points were at stake. After taking the first 2 laps to suss out the opposition and the environment, Neil Curran, on his debut for the Club and on grass, gradually worked his way through the field to overtake long time 2^nd placed EDAC man Martin Willcox on the last lap to finish in a very commendable 48^th place just 2 ahead of Martin in 50^th followed by the 4^th team scorer Dee Murray in 81^st to give the Downpatrick squad a team total of 180 points. There were several “first timers” to the cross country scene in addition to Neil – Gavin McConvey and Gareth Kelly, who if previous experience goes back to their school days is better described as “not within living memory”! Gavin Hynds and Stephen Heasley were their usual reliable selves while Paul Lloyd gets better with every outing. Gareth Kelly seemed to enjoy the softness underfoot while Paddy McDonald, Donal Smith and Gavin McConvey were all decidedly pleased to have contributed their points to the team total.

EDAC Men after the race

 LADIES PERFORMANCES WARM THE HEART

The Ladies team also featured several making their initial sorties over the grass and Mags Flynn, apparently speaking for herself, Joanne Carson and Cathy Burke, was heard to mutter that it would be a once and once only experience, if only to get the team captain Janine Murray off their backs! However they actually really enjoyed it and are contemplating at least another one! Cathy’s daughter Aoife is now old enough to run as a Senior and she made light work of the course and looked fresh at the finish. Ella Carroll made use of her weekend at home to try not to be overtaken by her Dad, Paul. However it proved just beyond her as he flashed past without so much as a word of recognition, as she approached the start of her final lap and he on his way to 9^th overall and second place in the Over 45 category.  The moral of the story is “Never look for sympathy, or fatherly love, when there’s money to be won!”

EDAC ladies before the race

 COME AND ENJOY THE CRAIC (WHILE YOU’RE ABLE)

Leading the way of course, in her usual ebullient fashion, was Deirdre Weatherall and she proves time and again the inspiration to all the EDAC members, male and female to come and enjoy the craic. This is what cross country is all about! Another advocate of participation in this type of event is Cheryl Denvir who ably supports Janine in urging others to take part as I most certainly do. Probably the best example of getting out and enjoying yourself while you can is Carmel Tumelty, who travels to all parts of the country, enjoys running whatever the conditions, has a bit of craic and then goes home to await the next one.

 TOM QUIETLY SOLDIERS ON

A word on our ever present “Senior” Tom Dowey who faithfully turns up in good time every  week and runs with the over 60’s, who also run with the Females, very well, as it turns out.  He may not know this but several of our inexperienced ladies have spotted how economically and evenly paced he runs and have targeted him as “the man to follow.” However keeping up with him is a problem as he has an excellent engine and often is second EDAC finisher as he was on Saturday ,well inside the top half of the field, in these mixed events.  So Tom keep on running like you do and if you feel like you’re being watched, you’re probably right!

Tom Dowey 381 in action alongside Davie Seaton 554 ANI Chairman and 1st in the M70 category

 ALL IRELAND EVEN AGE GROUP CHAMPIONSHIPS AT ABBOTSTOWN

The All Ireland Evens Age Groups XC took place on Sunday past at Abbotstown, Dublin. To take part athletes must have qualified as an individual, or part of a Club or County Team at the NI & Ulster Championship which was held at Greenmount, Antrim in October. EDAC U14 girls team had won Gold as top Club at that race so were hoping to maintain a podium position at the higher All Ireland level. Four of the EDAC athletes were also travelling to represent Co. Down as part of a team of 9 athletes including runners from Willowfield Harriers (Emmy Thornton, Alice Browne and Emma Harrison), Dromore AC (Ava Mehaffey) and Loughview (Lauren Taylor). Jodi Foster (EDAC) in the U12 category had qualified as an individual.

It was a wet, cold start to the day but conditions improved in time for racing to begin. The course was soft underfoot, muddy in places and had a few testing hilly parts. Jodi was in the first race of the day with 171 girls racing over 2000m. She managed a highly creditable 49th in the stacked field. The U14 girls were called to the line and as often is the case at the All Irelands there was a bit of jostling in the pens and some of the girls got a bad start. Anna Gardiner was unfortunate enough to take a tumble. They all know that a race is not over until the finish line is reached and they duly responded to the challenge with a full 3000m to redress the balance. The EDAC girls gave it their all. By the finish Kirsti Foster had worked her way up to a splendid 7th place, Lauren Madine came 11th, Lucy Foster made top 30 in 27th position. Anna Gardiner had to be pleased with 55th after her set back and Kara Trainor and Emily Burns completed the EDAC line up (127 and 134 respectively). It was a learning experience at a top level event and the parents and coaches are deservedly proud of their charges and how they performed. They missed out on the Club Gold by 2 points( what if Anna hadn’t fallen at the start?) but were delighted to go home with Silver Medals. The top 4 EDAC girls  were also the first of the six scorers in the Co. Down team which took bronze medals, the others being Emmy Thornton  20^th  and Ava Mehaffey 81^st , giving them a total of 201 behind only Cork and Dublin.  Kirsti and Lauren were 2 of the top 6 scorers in the Ulster Team which won the Inter Provincial title ahead of Munster and the mighty Dublin squads and thus ended up with a complete set of Gold, Silver and Bronze medals. Congratulations to all for their individual efforts and team spirit.

3^rd PLACE IN THE IRISH NATIONAL MARATHON CHAMPIONSHIPS IN DUBLIN

Out of the blue on Friday morning I received a small package from the postman, which contained 3 Bronze medals and a small slip of paper bearing 3 names, Declan Teague, David Smith and Liam Keenan. The medals, from the Athletic Association of Ireland (AAI), were inscribed National Marathon Masters Men Team 50+2018. So putting 2 and 2 together I figured that the 3 aforementioned had been awarded the medals as a result of their performances in the Dublin Marathon last month, their combined time for the distance was 9 hours 54 minutes and 45 seconds. So well done to our Seniors, and to complement the comments earlier about the inspiration set by the juniors, what an example this sets for our Juniors.

EDAC Juniors at the All Irelands Evens XC at Abbotstown – Silver medal in the U14 Girls
Anna Gardiner, Lauren Madine, Emily Burns, Kirsti Foster, Lucy Foster, Jodi Foster (U12) and Kara Trainor.

NEXT WEEK

It’s Seeley Cup time again and we’re back to the Ormeau Park on Saturday for one of the top road races of the year.  If you haven’t got an entry by now then you’ll be out of luck as the organisers have reached their limit and won’t be accepting any more.

Please see the following information provided by event organisers Willowfield Harriers on

Pack Collection

This year there is only a small room available for on the day pack collection.  Therefore, we strongly recommend that all runners collect their race packs at the times below or send someone to collect for you if possible.  Pre-event collection will be at the Mary Peters Track (this is not the race venue), on :=Wednesday 28^th November – 11am until 6pm (last admission 5.45pm)

       Thursday 29^th November – 12.30pm until 8.30pm (last admission 8.15pm)

      Friday 30^th November – 11am until 4.30pm (last admission 4.15pm)

     Saturday 1^st December – 12.30pm until 2pm (Ozone Arena, Ormeau Park)

Joe Quinn, Alison Carroll and Kirsti Foster (on the Junior Scene)

26 November 2018