Ballyclare High School ’s successful cross-country season continued on Saturday 4 November in the Northern Ireland & Ulster Juvenile Cross-Country Championships. The races were held in the Sixmilewater Park, in Ballyclare. Fortunately the dry weather in the preceding week had left the ground reasonably firm and easy to run on. There were some excellent performances from all ages, from U12 to U18, both boys and girls. However, the outstanding performance was by the U16 girls who won the Ulster Title. Congratulations to all the athletes who ran so well against very strong opposition.

In the Boys U12, Andrew Eastop along with Edward and James McKee had a good race finishing in the top 45 runners, out of a large field. Ballyclare also did well in the Girls U14. The field of nearly one hundred runners took off at an extremely fast pace. Joanna Mills finished 26th, followed by Laura Douglas who was 34th and Lucy Camlin 47th. Jonathan Douglas also did well in the Boys U14 race, running 1500m. Jonathan finished 24th out of over eighty runners.

One of the most successful races of the day was the Girls U16. This race was very competitive as the race took of at a great speed and stayed this way for the whole of the 2000m course. A mixture of hills and flat stretches kept the runners working hard. Jennifer McBrien finished in 4th place, followed by Rachel Campbell in 11th place. Not far behind was Vanessa Surgeoner (13th), Jane Kennedy (2Oth) and Kristina Gibson (36fh), With four runners in the top twenty, the team won the race overall, qualifying them for the All Ireland Cross-Country Championships, which will be held in Dungarvan, Co. Waterford at the end of November.

Joe McAllister did well in the Boys U16, finishing in 15th place, in the 3000m race.
To finish off the day, Kirstie Bell finished in 2O place in the Girls U18 race, followed by Hannah Hamill (26th) and Catherine Goulden (28th). Ballyclare had a super day, with some good results making all the effort in the races worthwhile.

Report by Jennifer McBrien