Podium finishes for Dylan and Abby
The Ulster and NI Even Ages Cross country Championships took place in the Billy Neil Centre in Dundonald on Saturday last. While it was a bright dry day, the recent heavy rain had taken its toll on the course and the muddy conditions led to some very tough races.
Shercock AC had a small group of athletes competing and our youngest competitors on the day included Aoife Byrne and Éadaoin McGuirk in the Girls U10, Odhrán Byrne in the Boys U10 and Éimear McGuirk in the Girls U12. All four ran well to finish middle of the field in their respective races.
In the Boys U12, Shercock had a strong team competing. Dylan O Reilly took the lead from the start and was unlucky to be caught on the home straight and finished in 2nd place. However, Dylan was soon followed home by Davy Mc Cormack, Daniel Ward, Conor Carolan and Seán Smith and the team was rewarded for their efforts to finish 3rd in the team rankings and take the bronze medals.
Abby Smith and Cara Mc Nicholl were in action in the girls U16 3500m. Both girls got off to a good start but Abby’s consistent training over the last few months stood to her as she steadily made her way to the leading group. With 500m to go Abby dug deep and overtook everybody apart from the leader to finish in a superb 2nd place. Cara also ran steadily to finish strongly in 32nd place.
Mark Kearns competed in the Boys U16 and while Mark was with the leading bunch for the first half of the race, he was unable to stay with the pace in the latter stages and finished in 13th position, just missing out on an Ulster team qualifying place.
Ben Smith and Ryan Lavelle also competed on the day and ran well in the Boys U14 and Boys U18 respectively. While medals at provincial level are difficult to get, the experience gained in competing at this level will stand to all the athletes going forward.
Well done everybody.
