Northern Ireland and Ulster Age Group XC Championships 

Report by Jim McKeown

The club was well represented at the NI & Ulster Even Age Group XC Championships across most of the age categories. The U18 Boys and Girls both won team golds – the scoring team for the boys included Noah HARPER (3rd), Scott OWEN, Jude MCGANN and Alex DOWNEY; the girls were led home by a resurgent Freya WOODHEAD (4th), followed by Katie KEOWN, Chloe YOUNG and Olivia MORGAN. (Both winning teams pictured)

The U16 Girls race proved to be a titanic struggle between ourselves, Enniskillen and Finn Valley with the lead chopping and changing throughout; in the end Enniskillen took the spoils on 43pts, closely followed by Lagan Valley 47pts and Finn Valley 48pts – a big shout out to Katie Napier making her club debut with an outstanding 3rd place, followed closely by Kaiya McCrabbe 4th with Georgia Storey and Georgina Garland completing the scoring 4. The U16 Boys finished 5th with Ollie HANNA, Harry MOFFITT, Matthew SABERIAN and Daniel MORIARTY top scoring – most, if not all those lads, are expected to qualify for Nationals via the County route.

In the U14 age category, our girls finished a close 2nd behind Ballymena & Antrim with top scorer Beibhinn BOURKE (4th), Simone RAMOS PLEWMAN, also making a club debut, an excellent 8th with Natasha GARLAND and Clodagh BRADLEY closing out our top 4 scorers. Our U14 Boys comprising Jake SMYTH, Adam HANNA, Conor MCCRORY and Conan MURPHY finished just outside the auto qualifying spots for Nationals (6th team), but again most of these lads will have a strong chance of making it through to Nationals via the County pathway (Antrim finished 3rd).

In the U12 Boys race, we finished 3rd just a single point ahead of City of Derry (114pts v 115pts) – you know the old adage ‘every place counts’ – great work by the scoring 4 of Eimhin BOURKE, Prame HUMPHRIES, Hugo LOWRY and James FINLAY. In the U12 Girls race our top scorer was Olivia Snodden in 20th.

Also on the card on Sunday was the Senior Men’s race, where we did exceptionally well to finish as 4th team, with top scorer Ruairi Hollywood (7th) well supported by John Jackson, new recruit Tibo Kolmel and Richard Edwards. The Sen Women finished 7th with Madison BOWYER, Kate BRADLEY, Liz DAWSON and Katy DUNN.

Another brilliant weekend for the Club – thank you everyone for your exceptional support