Ciara takes All Ireland Title
Tue 12 December 2006--admin
Portaferry?s Ciara Mageean wins U15 All Ireland Uneven Age Cross-country Title at
Dundalk on Saturday 9th December. The City of Lisburn athlete competing in damp
windy conditions against a field of over a hundred and fifty top athletes from all over
Ireland ran the race of her life to obtain the title.
The race itself was over 2000 metres and the course was firm with a few soft areas. The
race organisers once again positioned the Ulster girls at the very outside of the starting
grid, which disadvantages the runners in the mass start. When the gun went off, the Ulster
girls were quickly swallowed by the surge of enthusiastic runners. Ciara, Joanne Mills
her training partner from Downpatrick and Emily Mills, another City of Lisburn athlete
from Holywood, worked closely together and fought their way through to the top thirty
runners by the 1400m mark. With 600m to go, Ciara with Joanne broke away from Emily
and forged their way to the front of the field, Ciara opening a gap on Joanne to win the
race with Joanne finishing superb second. Emily, who has another year in this category,
finished a creditable 21st. The girls coaches were overwhelmed with the results and have already set the girls sights on the forth coming International Cross-country event at Stormont in early January.
In the girls U17 event, City of Lisburn?s athlete Rachel Gibson had a great start and maintained a fifth position for most of the 2000m race before a stomach upset kicked in, and forced Rachel to dropped back, to finish in seventeen place