Irish Novice and Uneven Age Group XC Championships 

Report by Jim McKeown

A large squad of LVAC athletes travelled to Abbottstown for the National Novice and Uneven Ages XC Championships. Early on, there were a few eye-catching performances from our younger athletes, in particular new member Katie Napier finishing 13th in the U17 race running out of her age group; the U17 Boys battled well for a hard-fought 4th place, just outside the medals – your day will come.

However, it was the U19 Girls race that started a gold-rush for the Club, with Freya Woodhead (pictured – photo credit Perri Williams) taking an outstanding individual win, in what were extremely tough underfoot conditions. Freya is the epitome of hard work and resilience and so deserving of this win after a challenging season last year – many congratulations Freya you are an outstanding role model for our younger juniors. Freya’s performance also led our girls to the U19 team title with Olivia Morgan 9th and Aoife Magee 35th; the girls also helped Antrim to victory in the County championship and a win for Ulster in the inter-Provincial Championship.

Those performances certainly seemed to inspire our Novice Men as they tackled the Irish Men’s Novice for only the 2nd time in the Club’s history. Despite finishing 3rd last year, we appeared to slip under the radar per the pre-race reports. The men got off to a flyer, and we packed well early on with 4 in the top 10 and that’s pretty much how it unfolded at the end of a gruelling 6km. It wasn’t without some drama though with Stephen Lyster (pictured on the podium) securing an individual silver medal following a titanic struggle with Clonliffe’s Mahad Egaal down the home straight – a finish for the ages! After a nervous wait the result was called and with that another bit of history for Lagan Valley AC taking a first Novice title with 30 points (team pictured post race), just ahead of our friends from Nenagh and Clonliffe. Noah Kavanagh 7th, Ruairi Hollywood 9th and Noah Sheridan 12th had exceptional runs and contributed to a fabulous team performance, bringing the curtain down on what’s been a memorable championship xc season for the Club.

Thank you to everyone who has raced with such pride and conviction this year in the sky blue and navy and to the extended coaching team without whom all this success would not be possible.