NI Masters Association Open Cross Country

NI Masters Athletic Association held their open cross country races at the QUB Grounds, Belfast on Saturday.

The races incorporated the trials for the NI team to compete in the British and Irish Masters International Cross Country in Nottingham on Saturday 22 November.

The first race was the Ladies and Masters 65+ over a 6K circuit. Springwell’s Sonia Knox finished fourth and second in the F40 age category in a time of 23:17. Jim Platt finished fist M70 in 30:00.

The main race was the Male open and Masters 35+ over 8K. Springwell’s Philip Tweedie finished seventh and second M45 in 27:44, Chris Denton was second M40 in 29:39 and Gerry O’Doherty was fourth M55 in 31:52.

The athletes are patiently waiting to see if they have been selected for Nottingham. Eddie Clyde ran 3:26:13 and John Butcher 3:43:25 (PB) at the TCS Amsterdam Marathon on Sunday.

On Sunday, Springwell’s Jim Breen finished first M60 at the 10K race which was part of the TUI Marathon Palma de Mallorca. In really hot conditions Jim ran 44:19.

On Saturday, NiRunning welcomed a huge array of talent to the Mourne Skyline Mountain-Trail Race. This was the final race in the inaugural Skyrunning UK series and covered 35K and a total elevation gain of 3370m. Misty skies, gale force winds, relentless climbing, technical terrain and an incredible field of runners made the inaugural Mourne Skyline MTR a day to remember.

Kim Collison (Borrowdale AC) led the field home in 3:57:09 followed by Eoin Lennon (Carnethy HRC) in 3:59:42 and J Marshall Thomson (Dynafit/USA) third in 4:08:38.

The ladies race was won by Stevie Kremer (Team Salomon) in 4:24:25 with Jo Meek (Winchester AC) second in 4:30:32. Springwell’s Nicki McPeak completed the course in 4:59:24 and Andy Deal in 6:46:09.