North Down AC Festival of XC 2018:
Hundreds of athletes from across Northern Ireland descended on Castle Park in Bangor for the annual North Down AC Festival of XC Running (Saturday 10th February 2018).
The unique event offers clubs the opportunity to bring their athletes together in a relay format; there is also a junior race programme.
In the Senior Men’s event, which saw teams cover 10.4km (4 x 2,600m), the young St Colmans Newry team of Jack O’Farrell, David Corkey, Miceal McCaul and Tom Magee showed their class with a comfortable victory. The rising stars clocked 35:31 for 1st place, with Ballydrain Harriers (36:43) and North Down AC (37:14) claiming 2nd place and 3rd place respectively.
North Down AC quartet Jakob Swann, Thomas Patterson, Cameron Jenkins and Jake Rushby secured the Under 20 title, taking 4th place overall in 37:39 (1st place Under 20 & 4th place Overall). In the Masters Men’s category, City of Lisburn AC’s Declan Morgan, Vaughan Purnell, Paul Clifford and Dave Lonnen led the way in 40:19 (1st place Masters Men & 6th place Overall).
The Ballydrain Harriers Masters team of Claire Ingram, Amanda Perry and Denise Logue excelled in the Senior, Masters and Under 20 Ladies race; each team covered 7.8k (3 x 2,600m). The aforementioned trio sealed top honours with almost a minute to spare, crossing the line in 32:15 (1st place). The North Down AC Masters Ladies team of Jodi Smith, Clare Kennedy and Jane Stevenson claimed 2nd place in 33:11, just ahead of their Under 20 club mates Rio Catney, Bryanna Catney and Erin McConnell, who took 3rd place in 33:24; Rio, Bryanna and Erin claimed the Under 20 title with this performance. In the Senior Ladies category, Scrabo Striders)Lynn Sheldon, Barbara McKechnie and Caroline Dwyer) won in 39:51 (1st place Senior Ladies & 10th place Overall).
In the preceding junior race programme, Jodi Foster (East Down AC), Finlay Mayne (Loughview AC), Nathan Semple (North Down AC), Tara McDonough (North Down AC), Aidan O’Hare (St Colmans College) and Amelia Tyler (North Down AC) enjoyed impressive wins.
Full Results: North Down AC Festival of XC 2018 Results
