Newcastle & District AC ladies went to Lurgan Park on Saturday for the NI & Ulster Cross-Country (XC) Championship 2018, which also doubled up as the final race of the Winter XC League. It was the longest of the XC season at a 3 laps and 6k, but as ever, the distance isn’t as relevant in cross-country, it’s the conditions under foot that tend to dictate the pace. Thankfully the conditions were good on Saturday with both spikes and mud claws the popular choice of the day. As the race got underway a group of 5 Newcastle AC ladies lined up in a field of 162 runners. The plan was to try and maintain a consistent pace although the uphill drag at the start of each lap was the most demanding section.
NAC Ladies team making club history at Cross-Country Champs in Lurgan Park – Aine Gosling, Donna Daly, Pat Shields, Catherine McIntosh & Linda Rogan.
Aine Gosling led the team home with a fantastic run, finishing 31st with an impressive time of 27:41. It was great seeing her back racing after such a long time out with injury. She was followed by Donna Daly 69th with a solid time of 30:21; next in was Catherine McIntosh 78th at 31:04 and going from strength to strength; closely followed by Linda Rogan at 32:07 who did herself proud as it was her 1st ever cross-country event and 1st time ever in the NAC colours. Pat Shields battled through with a time of 32:49 and was pleased with her performance as she also returns after a long time injured.
It was a watershed day in the club’s history with the women bringing him a team for the first time in the annual Championships – 16th place overall out of 32 finishing teams, a very respectable performance. However, it wasn’t such a great day for the men who only managed to get 4 on the start line in a race that requires 6 runners to score. Nonetheless, Seamy Lynch, rounding into great form for the upcoming mountain racing season, came home in 5th place in 43:08 for the 6 lap 12k course, less than 90 seconds behind winner City of Derry’s Declan Reed and only a minute outside the medals.
Zak Hanna was second man home in 18th place overall (slightly better than last year) in 45:15, with David McNeilly 46th in 48:45 and Rory McMullan 62nd in 50:53.
All in all the consensus was that it was a superb venue with pleasant surroundings and next stop for most is the mountain racing season which opens next weekend with Slieve Gullion.
Rory McMullan, Zak Hanna, Seamy Lynch & David McNeilly