Conor takes NI and Ulster title

Conor Christie once again was the best placed with another NI and Ulster title to add to his ever increasing portfolio in the Boys U16.

Although starting as favourite he was pushed all the way by Tir Chonail pair Mark McGuiness and Karl Griffin plus Lagan Valley's Tom Magee and City of Derry's Shane McGowan.

But after going to the front on the second lap of three Conor never looked back coming home with seven seconds to spare over Mark and Karl.

Also in this age group were team mates Robbie Craig, Ryan Ennis and Ryan Murray who has just recovered from a short lay off through injury.

The day started for Springwell with the Girls and Boys U12 races. Molly and Oisin Brennan, who only days before ran in the Springwell Cup for their primary school, along with Sinead Gormley, ran very intelligent races over a longer than usual distance for such a young age.

After a steady start all three came through on the second 1K lap to finish well, Oisin 9:31, Molly 10:43 and Sinead 11:07.

The Girls U14 over 3K saw Jessica McPeake finish 16th, Niamh Tweedie 20th, Aoife McSheffrey 34th and the youngest member of the team Leah Gilifillan 63rd. The team also finished sixth overall.

Next up was 12-year-old Luke Dinsmore in the Boys U14 over 3K. After a bad start in which Luke got boxed in he ran a superb race coming through to take fourth place in 10:54 and earn a place in the Irish Championships later this year along with team mate Conor Christie.

The penultimate Juvenile race, Girls U18 was to be over 5K but a mistake by the stewards saw the Girls running 6K.

Springwell's Deborah Gilliland and Natalie Costello ran really well over the longer distance with Deborah 14th in 24:16 and Natalie 20th in 25:52.

The final Juvenile race of the day, the Boys U18 over 6K was a real showpiece of junior cross country running, with a really fast pace set from the gun and a group of six at the front all fighting for the title.

Springwell had one runner in this race Ashley Cairns who after a good start suffered from his lack of training over the longer distance coming home in 25th place in a time of 24:17.

The final race of the day was the Bobby Rea Memorial over 8K for Male Juniors, Open and Veterans U60. Springwell had unusually only three runners in this race and all in the veteran category.

First home was the inform Brian Edgar in 36th place with a time of 28:41, next was Gerry O'Doherty in 48th in 30:00 and making his return to club racing Alistair Bratten 54th in 32.10, the race was won by Michael McKillop, St Malachy's in 24:06.

The next race for the club is the McConnell Shield at Sixmilewater Park, Ballyclare, on November 6.

* The cross country season opened with the Comber Cup Meeting at the Billy Neill Soccer Centre.

The Ladies and Male Vets over 65 went in the 5.5K race. Springwell's had two athletes completing Gillian Wasson (FO35) 24:06 and Jim Platt (MO65) 26:27.

The largest race of the day was the Male Vets race with fierce competition for places in the Northern Team. Bryan Edgar (MO45) was first Springwell runner home in 31:30 followed by Gerry O'Doherty (MO55) 33:01 and Lee Howarth (MO40), making his debut in Springwell colours, 42:02.

Gerry O'Doherty (MO55) and Gillian Wasson (FO35) were both selected for the Northern Ireland team to compete at Santry on November 13.

* Patrick Kielty set the runners on their way for the first ever Gr8 Dundrum Race. The 8.4 mile race was a combination of road, track, beach and boardwalk.

Springwell's Gary Kendall and Kay Hack took part crossing the line together in 1:07:17. The major prize winners were Newcastle's Deon McNeilly 48:34 and North Belfast's Amanda Perry 54:36.