Cross Country

Lest first impressions should be of a club in decline, there is much to take heart from.  The selfless dedication of Miss Stewart and Mr McCoy, coupled with the willingness of Mr Patterson to assist in trying to motivate the less enthusiastic members of the club, contributed to some notable accomplishments, which hopefully we will be able to build upon in years to come.  Secondly, it is perhaps worth pointing out that B.R.A. is one of the few schools which attempt to provide its athletes with the experience of inter-schools competitions other than in major championships.  These days, all too many schools are content to depend upon local athletics clubs to provide training and racing opportunities for their runners, so that we are now in a situation in which often the only opportunity that our pupils have to hone their competitive instincts is against our old friends and rivals at Ballyclare High School.

Inevitably, therefore, the focus of any report must fall on the aforementioned championship fixtures, which began this year in early February at Ormeau Park with the District event.  Here, at Junior level, Lauren O’Donnell-Anderson got a fine season underway by being placed in bronze medal position in the girls’ race, and the talented Philip Rodgers finished as 7^th boy.  The team highlight was provided by the Intermediate girls.  Sasha Hooks (2^nd), Christine McMahon (5^th), Rachel Harvey (13^th), Colleen McCausland (16^th) and Catherine Moss (18^th) combined superbly to ensure a comfortable victory and progress to the Ulster Championships, where they were to be joined by the Senior boys Stephen Rooney, Cormac Leyden, Stephen McComiskey and Daniel Frazer having won bronze medal in the Districts.  Alex Snoddy in at Intermediate Boys level also qualified for the Ulsters.

For once, we failed to provide a winning team at the Ulster Championships, although the Intermediate girls again represented their school with distinction by taking the silver medal, with Sasha and Christine crossing the line in 5^th and 8^th places respectively.  Also qualifying for the Irish Championships were Lauren (7^th) and Stephen Rooney (8^th) at Junior Girls and Senior Boys level.

This year’s Irish Schools’ Championships necessitated a long journey to Loughrea in Co. Galway, where the event took place in the local equestrian centre. The course itself – a joy, no doubt to cross country purists – was of a sort not often experienced by modern runners, with a sea of liquid mud in bleak surroundings.

Our athletes responded with good-natured forbearance.  The Intermediate girls with Eve Nangle hastily press-ganged into the team, joined Christine and Rachel in skating through the mud to finish in 9^th place.  Individually, Stephen Rooney completed a highly competitive senior race in 16^th position, and Lauren O’Donnell-Anderson made light of the oozing ground to cross the finishing line in 14^th position in her race.  Both were to be selected to represent Ireland in the London mini-marathon, again performing with great credit.  Stephen enjoyed the additional honour of representing the Irish schools in their annual fixture against the Welsh schools.  He finished in 14^th place.

Inevitably, the passing of a season sees us saying farewell to some of our athletes.  Cormac Leyden, Daniel Frazer and Jonathan McGlinchey have been loyal servants to our club.  All are moving on to pastures new.  They take with them our best wishes both for their academic careers and for their continued progress as cross country runners.