Saturday saw several of the Club's junior girls make their debuts in Ballyclare on Malcolm Cup day and after all the rain conditions were mostly firm and fast as they set off on the half mile race. All of them collected medals for their efforts as the quintet was led home by Aoife Cochrane, just pipped for 4th place by Cedar's Amy Godfrey, in a time of 3.46, followed by Katie McEvoy, Maria McAuley, Blathnaid Evans and Rebekah Mallon Rooney.  It was a tough enough baptism as they have much to learn about pace judgement and will need to do a lot of training to build up their stamina but Club coach Frank Cunningham was delighted with the results.

At the other end of the age spectrum I ran the 3 Miles Vets race, the first outing of the season over grass, but with Terry Eakin,18.35, a newcomer to the Over 60 ranks, Jim Hayes and Davy Seaton to contend with, my time of 22.25 was never going to trouble the judges.  A very enjoyable race though and a good warm up for next weekend's Joe Seeley Cup 10K, for which 25 club members are entered.

In the Open race, the Malcolm Cup, Brendan Teer again took up the gauntlet in a strong field of 45 runners, but with Brian Campbell, James McIlroy and Adam Ingram cranking up the pace, his lack of race fitnesstold and he was forced to drop back, eventually finishing a gallant 11th  and ahead of Philip Goss (NBH) who he conquered last weekend in Saul – but this was another positive step on the road to full recovery.

Meantime cross country enthusiast Liam Keenan forsook Ballyclare's meteorological shortcomings for the sun and sea of Florida's Cocoa Bay where he competed in the Space Coast Half Marathon on Sunday. No hot soup on offer there I'll bet but in his first attempt sat the distance he clocked a superb 1.22.38 for the 13.1 miles, which earned him 1st place in the Over 45 category and 8th overall. That's what I call flying the flag in style.

Next weekend it's Seeley Cup time and the following Saturday is the Dromore AC cross country promotion.  Dromore is one of the most supportive clubs in the country and never fail to field runners, no matter where the races are held so they deserve a big turnout of athletes from all the clubs.  I'm appealing for significant numbers of runners to go to the Dromore Community Centre on 12th December for a full programme of events from Under 12 Boys and Girls up to senior level.



Joe Quinn

29 November 2009