This article is from http://www.nirunning.co.uk

On Saturday 14th June 2014, two teams from Northern Ireland put in top quality performances at the Home Country International Mountain Running Challenge in Keswick (England), with both the male and female teams returning with silverware.

In the men’s 11.3k (with 690m of ascending) event, the Northern Ireland men ‘packed’ well, with Gavin Mulholland (Calder Valley AC) leading the local contingent home in 54:58 (18th place).  The remainder of the team followed less than two minutes later; Iain Whiteside (Carnethy HRC), Seamus Lynch (Newcastle AC) and David Steele (Newcastle AC) crossed the line in 56:33 (22nd place), 56:39 (23rd place) and 57:18 (24th place) respectively.  The event was won by Deeside Runners’ Robbie Simpson in 49:03 (1st place).  In the team competition, which was won by Scotland, Northern Ireland finished in 3rd place.

There was a notable outing for East Down AC’s Catherine O’Connor in the ladies 8.7k (with 460m of ascending) race.  The Northern Ireland lady couldn’t have chosen a better time to produce the performance of her life; on her international debut, Catherine clocked 45:05 (14th place).  This was enough to finish just ahead of team mates Gillian Wasson (Springwell Running Club), Shileen O’Kane (Lagan Valley AC) and Hazel McLaughlin (Lagan Valley AC).  Gillian ran 45:39 (16th place), while Shileen (46:21) and Hazel (49:54) finished in 17th place and 19th place.  The race was won by Emma Clayton (Bingley AC) in 37:42. In the team standings, England took top honours, while Northern Ireland claimed bronze medals after finishing in 3rd place.