Malcolm Cup Ballyclare
Wed 7 December 2005--admin
After a week of heavy rain, the underfoot conditions were never going to be easy at Six Mile Water Park in Ballyclare nevertheless, City of Lisburn?s athletes figured prominently, with six out of eight athletes amongst the prize winners. The bottom half of the course runs along side Six Mile Water which had recently overflowed onto the flood plane leaving a lot surface water on the course, adding to the heavy muddy conditions.
The Girls Under 13 race saw Emily Mills come through strongly to finish in third position, once again demonstrating her determination and strength. The next event was the combined Boys and Girls Under 15, two mile race. Rachel Gibson was up against her old adversaries Jennifer McBrien of Ballyclare High School and Emma McShane of East Down. The three girls worked hard to get away from the rest of the field but the muddy conditions got the better of Rachel who eventually finished in third position.
The combined Under 17 races, where the girls ran two miles and the boys three miles, saw City of Lisburn athletes Stuart Brown, Ruth Gillispie and Hannah Addley contest against each other. Ruth, who returned from Liverpool Reebok International where she finished 13th last week, had a runaway victory. Hannah who struggled with the underfoot conditions finished a creditable sixth. Meanwhile, Stuart who has just recently moved into this new age group, had a tussle fighting for third spot and eventually finished in 4th place.
In the Senior Ladies 3 mile race which was combined with the male and female Vets race, Lisburn?s Kelly Reid stormed away from the rest of the field to win the race followed by the ever improving Heather McLarnon in fifth place. Lisburn?s sole vet, Eric Frizzell finished just behind Heather to win the over 55 category. Congratulations should also be extended to Kelly for her 10K win at the Joe Seely event at Ormeau Park last week-end.
The Horwill Cup 4 mile race was combined with the Men?s Under 20 race in which Chris Madden was Lisburn?s representative. Chris, has recently returned from the Reebok International in Liverpool where he was third man home for Northern Ireland. This was Chris?s first race over the 4 mile distance and he demonstrated his usual tenacity by finishing second on a, by now, very cut up course. Well done City of Lisburn!