Anna Gardiner, Kirst Foster, Lauren Madine, Lucy Foster and Emily Burns the Silver Medal winning team in the Girls Under 12 race.

KILBRONEY PARK IN THE SUN
The Bobby Rea Memorial Cross Country race on Saturday was the 1st round of this year’s Cross Country League and attracted another record breaking entry and huge spectator interest, Due to ground alterations at the usual venue, the UU campus at Jordanstown, the races were held in the superb setting of Kilbroney Park in Rostrevor, in my opinion the best location for cross country running in NI. The weather was first class with autumn sunshine bathing the firm, fast underfoot conditions, in picnic inducing warmth.

MEN’s 8K RACE
East Down fielded a team of 4 in the Men’s race and Martin Willcox was best of the EDAC men, in 42nd place in a field of over 130.  At the front Conor Duffy was engaed in a battle royal with Newcastle’s Seamus Lynch while David O’ Flaherty who is in the form of his life was staging an equally enthralling encounter with Andrew Annett.  Duffy was just a shade too strong for the Newcastle man and pulled away from him in the final lap and a half.  Similarly O’ Flaherty, shrugged of the weakening affects of a stomach bug to account for the best efforts of Annett, to give the seasiders a superb 2nd and 3rd positions and enabled them to claim 2nd place behind North Belfast Harriers in the League race.

East Down’s other scorers were Dee Murray, 57th  Stephen Heasley 76th and Gary Cull 97th and the team placed 13th of the 22 teams.

MASTER TOM
Tom Dowey was he sole EDAC runner in the Masters race run in conjunction with the Women’s race over a 5K distance, and seemed in fine form, finishing ahead of former Belfast marathon stalwart, the evergreen Willie McCracken.

YOU CAN ALWAYS COUNT ON THE LADIES
The East Down Ladies fared much better, with Catherine O’Connor showing a welcome return to form, making steady progress through the field to finish a very respectable 8th place just 61 seconds behind the winner and when she reaches full  fitness she will be up there with north Down’s Rachel Gibson who was 2nd on Saturday but who she was beating on occasions last year. The second East Down scorer was Laura Gardiner in 18th place and who potentially can do much better followed by Joanne Foster 26th who  is also recovering from injury and who will only improve in the weeks ahead.

The 4th and most important runner in the team was Janine Murray whose 63rd place enabled the Club  to take 5th place out of 18 teams, a really positive start to the cross country league campaign.

AGE GROUPS
The first of the Club runners in action in the Age groups were in the Under 10 Girls category, with Jodi Foster and Ella Telford setting the standard for the  day, placing 5th and 32nd respectively.  Unfortunately they didn’t have another 2 to constitute a team, but as there is no All Ireland race for this age group perhaps it’s understandable.   Further misfortune followed as Callum Kent, making his debut for the Club in the Under 10 Boys race, had to drop out with injury when well placed, but lives to fight another day.

UNDER 12 GIRLS TAKE SILVER
Then it was the turn of the highly fancied Under 12 Girls squad to show their mettle. This turned out to be the best race of the day as Lauren Madine, seemingly judging her race to perfection, moved through the field from halfway, picking off her rivals and entering the home straight with a 2 metre advantage over Shercock’s Hazel Hughes.  Perhaps Lauren momentarily lost her concentration or inadvertently eased off, but whatever the reason, the Cavan girl saw an opportunity and made a desperate lunge for the line. Although I reckon a dead heat would have been the fairest result Hazel subsequently got the nod from the photo finish judge.  I’m looking forward to the continuation of this battle in the All Ireland finals next month. However Lauren’s superb efforts were excellently backed up by her team mates, Anna Gardiner and Kirsti Foster who placed 14th and 15th respectively, Lucy Foster 33rd and Emily Burns 81st   which enabled the East Down girls to take 2nd Club place and therefore qualify for the finals.
There was only one EDAC runner in the Boys Under 12 race and Oliver Robinson acquitted himself well, taking 61st place over the 1500 metres course.

UNDER 14s
The Under 14 Girls race saw the East Down quartet of Cora Fitzsimons – West, Annie McMullan, Lucy Morgan and Louise Lundy finished in a group after the testing 2500 metres race. In the Boys equivalent, McKenzie Murray ploughed  a lone furrow and battled to 58th place in a fast run race.

UNDER 16s
Edie Carroll was another sole EDAC representative in the Under 16 Girls race and did well to take 33rd place in spite of picking up a stitch half way through. Likewise in the Boys Under 16 Adam Morgan, surely our most consistent and reliable of performers, was the only East Down runner and set an example to many of his stay at home clubmates.
UNDER 18s
The Under 18 Girls battled well in a tough race and were led home Aoife Cochrane, with Laura Green and Ella Carroll close behind. One more runner from the Club would have enabled them to lift Bronze Medals, and more importantly, to qualify for the All Ireland Championships.  For similar reasons another runner from Co. Down would have constituted a 6 person team and also qualified them for the All Ireland finals. To miss out twice for want of one more Dunumian is a double whammy.

The Boys Under 18 race saw 3 East Down boys take to the line in what was a hotly contested race over a 5K distance.  James Smyth was the first of the trio to finish, taking 35th place with Matthew McGrattan  and Owen Edwards in 43rd and 44th places respectively.

NEXT WEEK
Next Saturday is Comber Cup day on the local front and East Down will be eager to build on their solid start in the Cross Country League at the Billy Neill Centre. The Dublin Marathon takes place on Sunday for the first time and we wish all the East Down athletes Good Luck and indeed to all the participants from Newry and Mourne area.

HOMESTART SANTA RUN
Sunday 27 November will welcome the runners to the Homestart 5 and 10K Santa runs in Downparick, aimed at the novices and first timers. Everyone welcome.

GRIDDLE 10K
Sunday 4 December will see local interest focus on Raholp where the Round the Griddle 10K and Fun Run gets under way at 12 noon from Saul GAC premises.
Online entry to both events is open at www.atleticsni.org.

Joe Quinn
24 October 2016