Category Archives: Roller Coaster

Rollercoaster Races

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WEATHER DIDN’T PUT WIND UP THE KIDS

The Rollecoaster Races at Downpatrick Racecourse has been blessed with unseasonably fine weather for the past 4 years but Mother Nature extracted full vengeance for these aberrations on Saturday when she threw everything at the competitors in what proved an unsuccessful attempt to deter them.  But from P3 upwards the children turned out in numbers, 239 in total,  to take on and beat the elements. Every one was a winner and deserve the highest praise for ignoring rain, sleet, and wind ably backed up by  gusts which blew some adults off their feet. Continue reading →

Junior Team Triumph For Newcastle AC In Lurgan

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DIRTY WORK
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It is often said when we want to attribute supernatural powers on someone that they could walk on water.  Well on Saturday in saturated Lurgan Park ( I’ve never seen dry Lurgan) several hundred men and women attempted an even more difficult task, namely staying upright on liquid mud – while running!  I’m happy to report that virtually every one of the near 400 participants and all of the East Down contingent managed to do so in the consistently worst cross country conditions I have ever seen.   It was a 2K circuit which  had at least 6 inches of liquid mud throughout its entirety but this was the best of the going. In other  places the course was under water and in some the mud was over a foot deep.  So congratulations not only to Newcastle AC for a magnificent performance in regaining the Junior team trophy after a lapse of 27 years, but to every athlete who took part. Gareth Kelly was the only East Down man to take part in the Junior race, his first incursion into the world of cross country, and what a baptism he chose.  Continue reading →

Juniors @ Delamont

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The final round of the McGrady Financial Services Junior Cross country Series took place on Saturday in mild, muddy, occasionally rainy but always entirely enjoyable conditions in Delamont Country Park. And all credit to the boys and girls who turned out and to the parents who turned them out, in what seemed threatening but in reality were fairly benign conditions.

There were many courageous performances not least from Continue reading →

Catherine impresses at Moira

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After the heady excitement of last weekend’s International at Greenmount it was back to more mundane fare at Moira Demesne on Saturday.  The races however were all well attended with good quality runners and were all hotly contested affairs. For East Down’s representatives it was a case of some more acclimatisation on the grass prior to the Junior, Intermediate and Master’s championships in Lurgan in 2 weeks time.  Catherine O’Connor continued  to impress with an excellent 4th place in her category, in a race won by Sperrin’s Karen Alexander, a class act on any surface.

Daniel Atkinson again ran well in the Year 9/10 Boys race while big brother Caolan had a rest following his impressive run at Greenmount as he targets the schools Continue reading →

MUD NO PROBLEM FOR THE FLYING AFRICANS

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The best quality field ever assembled for the International Cross Country at Greenmount on Saturday afternoon in both Men and Women’s races did not disappoint the record crowd which turned to watch out in near perfect conditions. Apparently oblivious to the soft underfoot conditions the Africans served up a fascinating battle between reigning world cross country champion  Japhet Korir of Kenya, team mate Emmanuel Bett and last year’s winner Thomas Akeyo of Uganda. In a frantic dash for the line Korir’s front running was rewarded with a 2 second victory margin over Akeyo with Bett in third.  It occurs to me that the reason they cope so well with soft underfooot conditions is that they don’t leave either foot long enough in one place to sink into, seemingly gliding over whatever terrain they encounter. ninth place finisher Paul Pollock took the NI & Ulster title ahead of Stephen Scullion with Gary Murray in third. Continue reading →