Ulster Schools Cross Country 2006
Wed 22 February 2006--admin
On a cold, windy, freezing afternoon at Mallusk playing fields, City of Lisburn AC athletes, representing their various schools, were competing for places in the All Ireland Championships in Dublin City University on the 4th March.
Sole representative in the Minor Girls was Tabitha Darling who ran well to finish 46th over the 1700m race. The Junior Girls 1700m race saw six Strathern Grammar School girls competing for the team places. First home in 10th place was Emily Mills closely followed by Kalina Stitt in14th, Shannon Myles in 16th and Samantha Weston in 18th to bring home 3rd team prize. Other finishers were Lauren Quee, 44th and Zoe Magee, 61st both Strathern girls and Rebecca Diamond of St.Genevieves who finished in 25th place.
In the Inter Girls 3200m, four City of Lisburn athletes all produced strong performances. Caroline Brown of Bloomfield Collegiate, showing a return to form, finished 6th beating off club mate Rachel Gibson of Wallace High School. Rachel, who was not up to her usual form, finished 8th. Next in with a storming run, was Rachel Ramsey of Belfast Royal Academy in 22nd place followed closely by Alison Robinson of Carrick Grammar in 26th place.
Campbell College reprsentitive Stuart Brown was Lisburn?s only runner in the Inters 4700m, Stuart worked hard in the early stages with the leading pack drawing away from the rest of the field and was very happy with his 8th place.
Finally, Ruth Gillespie and Hannah Addley of Carrick Grammar were running in the Senior Girls 2000m. Ruth took an early lead and forced the pace with a lead of 50m from Joanne English of Letterkenny, Ruth remained in the lead up to 1800m before fading in the final 200m to be overtaken by Joanne and Rebecca Pearson of Friends School Lisburn. Ruth finish 3rd with Hannah, who felt she could have performed better, finishing in 18th place.
Overall, Lisburn athletes performed well with eleven athletes qualifying for the All Ireland Schools Championships on the 4th March. Many thanks to the coaches Eric Frizzell, Heather Martin, Julie and Raymond Brown for their continued help and support.