XC round up

Dont know too much about this one apart from the fact that Lucy Quinn had a comfortable win in the Armagh/Monaghan schools xc on Thursday. Her school, St Pauls, also won the team prize thanks in no small measure to our club's latest recruit, and a contender for the "smallest feet in the world" title, Rebecca Gamble, who stormed home in 6th place. This off course puts them on a collision course with the chuckle sisters in the Ulsters on the 24th of Feb!!! Place your bets.......

The Chuckle Sisters

The last two athletes we had running on Tuesday were the club comedians, Charlotte Rea and Jennifer Heaney. Both bluffers were running for the Sacred Heart which isn't unusual saying that they are in the same class! Charlotte has had a winter full of niggling injuries and has spent a lot of track time sitting on the fence as a spectator, and this lack of work left Charlotte exposed over the last quater of the race. She had been holding a good second place behind her excellent school mate Emma Laverty, but she was caught on the run in by another class mate Lauren Hutchinson and finished 3rd in a huge field of 140 athletes. This put Sacred Heart in an uncatchable position and leaves them strong favourites for the up coming Ulster finals. Jennifer also missed a lot of running over the winter but looked strong finishing in 17th place. Both girls head to the Oddyssey this weekend. If they stop laughing long enough we might even get them to run!!

Daisy

Our most senior athlete, if we don't count Rory Quinn (and who does), is Daisy Murray from Warrenpoint. Daisy is from a dubious athletic background, namely fell running! This branch of athletics is more commonly the home to old gimmers who usually have beards and always have a dreadful dress code, and that's the women! People indeed like our esteemed head coach and Daisy's dad, Jimmy. Ah but, it makes you strong and hard! Unfortunately it also makes you more donkey derby than Epsom derby in the speed department! This though is where the aforementioned Miss Murray bucks the trend, this and of course the fact that she doesn't have a beard, as she has been showing quite a bit of speed and has been noticed by the power makers in the fell running community. Daisy has had a good winter and before Christmas finished 12th in the Ulster Champs to qualify for the Irish champs where in a field of 80 starters she took a brilliant 21st place. She too was recruited by her school, Sacred Heart, to run at Delamont this week in the senior race. Daisy ran another class race to finish 3rd behind international runner Ciara Mageean. Top class performance.

Normal service is resumed

Also running in Mairead's junior girls race were Aislinn Crossey, Hollie Halpin and Sarah Creegan. Neither Hollie nor Sarah would claim to be, how can I put it, let's say, fans of cross country but both stuck to the task and finished strongly in the fast run race. Both girls will be better suited by the track during the warmer days. Aislinn also claims to dislike xc and even though this may indeed be the truth she still seems to be quite good at it!! The race settled into a fox and hound sort of contest with the early leader from Strathearn College opening a 30 mts lead by the halfway mark and was running strongly enough to suggest she was going to take a bit of catching. Aislinn slowly reeled her in though and on the big hill smoothly accelerated away for a comfortable win. This was a race Aislinn has twice finished 3rd in so to finally win was a good result, though Ais will know there will be harder days ahead when the track season comes round, starting in the Oddyssey this coming weekend.

A star is born!

Wow Wee!! How does our 60 mts sprint expert turn into a 1600 mts muddy xc star!! With a lot of determination, hard work, belief and a competitive streak that can't be coached would seem to be the answer. At the Ulster School's A district xc in Delamont Park on Tuesday and running for Our Ladys, Mairead Grant turned in a sparkling performance which left this coach and the school's PE teacher smiling from ear to ear!!! Mairead actually led the early stages on the very tough course and wasn't for quitting when passed by the race favourites. She dug deep and clung on to the chasing group until the final long climb when she accelerated to split the group. Into the home straight in 5th place but within striking distance Mairead did what she does best and as the picture shows sprinted for a brilliant 4th place. And this in a field of 130 athletes! Mairead was like a wee dog with 2 tails after the finish and rightly so. She finished 2nd scorer for Our Ladys finishing in front of her much more experienced team-mates and earning her place for the Ulster schools champs. A huge WELL DONE!! Shame about the socks....................

Is there a track here somewhere??

The answer would appear to be "sometimes" at least if this winter was anything to go by!!!

Is hibernation time over yet??

Will someone look out the window and see if it's safe to come out yet!! Is all the snow gone? Is it warmer? Not yet, but its time for your correspondent to start reporting on what's been happening. And the answer is not much!! At least not until this week when we all awoke from slumber to test how the winter training went. The answer appears to be "very well". Reports on schools district xc above would seem to indicate that. Despite the poor weather and huge lack of running by almost everyone the hard work done on our strength and conditioning seems to be working. Nobody has any great speed but everyone is stronger and fresher than before so the prospects for the track season would appear to be good. First we're off to the Oddyssey this weekend for the indoor champs. Should be a good weekends craic. In the meantime here's a few pics of a couple of dedicated athletes and new club mascot Bob the snowman. Funny, he's disappeared..........