Newcastle Maidens shine in the Maiden City
By Muddy Fields

The annual outing to the Maiden City saw Newcastle AC cross country squads board the bus at the various pick up points and as the day was a one which there was a lot going on a schedule was drawn up and this would be strictly adhered to. All was going well for stage 1 – leaving Newcastle the squad followed the schedule. Stage 2 Castlewellan alterations were made to the departure time as Hen and Seamy were “stuck behind a snow plough” coming from Rathfriland “but there was no snow today Hen” “well it worked last week” he replied in an effort to explain his tardiness.

There was an appeal to the soothsayers and forecasters for a milder day and firmer ground conditions and thanks are due to Barra and The Prophet both delivered. Thanks lads

The North West Cross Country event is unique in the Athletics NI Cross Country League in that there are no separate for men and women just one mass start and so 277 runners set off at 12:30 for three laps of a flat and for a change a reasonably firm and relatively dry course in the grounds of Gransha Hospital. Unlike last week P J McCrickard was able to give a definitive assessment of the going and decreed that it was “good to soft”.

The squad rotation system was definitely in operation again this week with seven new runners from those that completed the Special Forces Training event in Cookstown last week although they do Hell Week we had a “Hell of an afternoon”

A strong ladies squad travelled with high hopes of finishing in the points and excellent running from Shalene McMurray finishing second in 22:39 with Joanne Mills finishing third in 22:45 which was 68^th and 72^nd positions overall.  Direct from winning the Crossgar Harriers Santa Run Mari Treong was our third finisher in 24:59 and 27^th overall.

The men’s squad are not the only to have domestiques among their ranks the ladies have them also as we in Newcastle AC are an equal opportunities organisation and so in 160^th place overall and fourth finisher for Newcastle Patricia McKibbin in a time of 26:37 and completing the quintet Rita Devlin in a time of 27:21 became the overall 182^nd finisher.

With Newcastle holding second place in the league behind Foyle Valley and ahead of Acorns we required a full strength team to travel and hopefully place well – a big ask we know but again Seamus Lynch delivered the goods finishing in second place in 19:06 just seven seconds behind defending North West XC champion Declan Reed of City of Derry Spartans. Did the short hop to the venue just tip the scales in favour of Reed compared to the two day camel ride Seamus had?

Following his unavailability last week XC Captain David McNeilly put in a good shift to finish in 21^st place in a time of 20:35 with Martin Melville close behind in a time off 20:44 giving him 25^th position. Paul Carlin was next man in with 28^th place in 20:50.

Making a festive seasonal guest appearance was the one and only Brendy Donnelly showing a clean pair of heels to 43 others in 21:32. With the cyclocross season nearing completion the evergreen Deon McNeilly was in search of more entertainment in the mud where he was to complete the course in 50^th place with a time of 21:50 and in doing so was second V50 finisher.

It seems that Newcastle XC runners are like buses none for ages than five come along at the same time and this was the case as five red and yellow festooned warriors crossed the line in positions 68 to 72 there was the aforementioned Shalene McMurray and Joanne Mills who bookended Patrick Higgins 69^th 22:41, John “Hen” Kelly 70^th 22:44 and P J McCrickard 71^st 22:45. Next up for Newcastle was a member of the Knights of Kilmegan (do they really exist?) Paul Byrne with a time of 23:07 was good enough to give him 10^th Newcastle finisher and 82^nd overall. A man more used to “the Blackstuff”(that’s tarmac to the uninformed and not a famous stout) Alan Strachan performed well with a 99^th placed finish in 23:51 followed closely by Richard Rodgers in 112^th and 12^th club counter in 24:12.

As you will have read there has been twelve finishers so far so up next are a fine bunch of men, unsung heroes who shun the  limelight and just get on with their job which is as per team orders is – “just finish”. These journeymen known as the “domestiques” comprise of mainly Annsborough natives although one is just domiciled just outside the border to be termed an Annsborian. And so I give you these men Stevie Rice in 161^st (26:37) who was given the additional task of ensuring that our fourth ladies team counter Patricia McKibbin attained the best finishing position possible. Gary Cairns 178^th and again first Annsborian home in 27:09 with Declan Magee and Declan Rice completing the men’s team counters in 216^th and 219^th with finishing times of 28:32 and 28:37 respectively.

And so the first half of the XC league is complete and next up is the IAAF Antrim International Cross Country at Greenmount near Antrim on 16^th January where entrants will be able to toe the line and start with seasoned cross country exponents such as Paul Pollock and Newcastle ACs own Kerry O’Flaherty and international entrants which include European U23 ladies champion Louise Carton of Belgium and Thomas Ayeko of Uganda who was the Men’s winner last year.