In a mouth watering forerunner of what was to come the first race of the day,  for P3/4 Boys and Girls, saw Ben Wilson from Lisburn and Conor Murray from the host club fight out a tremendous finish and leave the judges unable to separate them at the line, a dead heat the fair outcome. In the Girls race Holly Smyth was a clear winner from Alea Brannigan, both from Newcastle, with East Down's Lucy Morgan taking an eyecatching 3rd place in her first ever competitive event.

 

The P5 race was won overall by Caoimhe-Grace O'Donnell (East Down) from Newcastle's  Cliodhna Carey and Aine Rice followed by debutantes Emma Campbell and Tia Braniff,  with Ethan Banks taking the Boys section in a Newcastle 1-2 ahead of Dean McCrickard with Fergal Mooney and Adam Morgan the East Down scorers.

 

Newcastle dominated the P6 races with Caolan Hawkins, Gabriel Corrigan and Ruairi Carey filling the top 3 places in spite of battling performances by Johnny Erskine and Padraig Rogan,  and Michaela Quinn and Sarah Dougherty taking Gold and Silver ahead of East Down's Emily-Jo McGrattan in the Girls race.

 

Smoothest performance of the day came from Matthew Carrick in the P7 Boys event, as he eased home ahead of Ross McCrickard and Nial Rock. It was the East Down girls who performed a clean sweep in their section, Aoife Cochrane showing a welcome return to fitness with a strong finish ahead of clubmates Jemma Black and Olivia Mooney, with Elisha Surginor and Maria McAuley putting in stout efforts a little further back. 

 

Newcastle's domination was complete in the Year 8 boys race however where Aidan Hawkins  won from the dead heating Ruairi Forde and Jack Quinn in a splendid finish, with 3 more clubmates next, Marc Breteche being the only East Down representative in the field. However consolation of sorts came in the shape of Ellen Erskine who not only won the Year 8 Girls  race but was first overall finisher ahead of Newcsastle's Megan Rodgers and Cora Keown. 

 

The Year 9 race provided the greatest contrast of the day as tactics and race savvy came much more into play. Paddy Erskine took the lead from the start and was never threatened as he delivered a strong performance over what was a demanding 3 lap course but Ethan Braniff rightly held back before unleashing a superb sprint finish to take Silver. The Girls race developed into a battle of minds as Beth O'Boyle, after a quiet opening lap, picked off her rivals one by one as she moved through the field to lead by end of lap 2 and held on strongly to win ahead of Newcastle's very competent Aisling McCann and Nicole Selfe who seemed unable to make up her mind whether to run in shoes or barefoot but proved that Budd style running was best for her. Everyone ran very well in this race and it could prove the most interesting Age group in the series with Newcastle's Molly Peters, Sarah Watson, Johanna Walsh and Orlaith McCann in close contention with East Down's Nicola Rogan, Orla O'Boyle, Eimear Degan and Sionon and Laura Selfe. It may all depend on their dedication to training.

 

A big “Thank You” to Martina Hawkins and her crew from Newcastle ACfor the superb organisation behind the whole event – parents, coaches and friends enjoyed it all, and when they had recovered their breaths, the kids found they had too.  Next round in the series is on Saturday 30 October in Tollymore Forest Park.

 

On Saturday 5 Seniors took part in the high quality Bangor 10K and were led home by Liam Venney who turned in another stunning performance, finishing 18th overall in a time of 34.57 with Brendan Teer looking like he has turned the corner in his battle back to full fitness placing 30th in 36.16. And just to prove that age is no barrier to performance, Liam Keenan clocked 38.27, knocking 9 seconds of his 2008 time. 

 

Mark McDowell having tracked the maestro for most of the way benefitted from the experience by breaking the 40 minute barrier for the first time, in a time of 39.19, and there's more to come from him. East Down's 5th man was Peter Morgan, another best in 48.22 which left him King for a day, until daughter Lucy eclipsed his performance on Sunday.

 

Everyone is encouraged to enter the Dundrum Gr8 race online as soon as possible as the entry limit has almost been reached and no entries are being taken on the day.  This is one race not to miss as it offers a variety of surfaces including boardwalk, beach  and trail as well as road.  The Date is October 16th – be there.

 

 

 

Joe Quinn

 

27 Sept 2010