SPRINGWELL Juniors were in excellent form at the Malcolm Cup Cross Country meeting in Ballyclare's Sixmilewater Park on Saturday. It was a cold, dry day with little wind and the under-foot conditions were surprisingly good considering the amount of rain which had fallen in recent weeks.
The first race of the day was the Under 11’s 800m. Springwell’s Leah Gilfillan took control of the race about half way a position she held until missing the turn into the finishing straight. Leah recovered well to finish second in 3:17 two seconds be
hind Kate Courley of City of Lisburn.
Next up was the Under 13’s 1600m. Springwell’s Niamh Tweedie produced a blistering finish to pass long time leader Anna Campbell
metres from the line and win in 6:42. Robyn Ennis worked hard to finish 9th in 8:31.
The Under 15’s race over 3200m 2 laps of the park featured Springwell’s Irish Cross Country Champion Connor Christie. Conor went to the front early on and put on a master class of front running coming home in 11:15. Ryan Murray ran well to finish 12th in 12:40 and Ryan Ennis suffering with a cold finished 19th in 14:05.
Springwell’s Deborah Gilliand and Natalie Costello went in Under 17 Girls race over 3200m. St Peters AC’s Laura Casey led the field from start to finish winning in 12:42. Deborah finished strongly to take second place in 13:45. Natalie had another good race finishing fifth in 15:14.
The Male Vets race over 3 miles was won by Mark Wright of the host club Annadale Striders in 16:27.
Philip Mullan 18:12 was the first Springwell Runner home closely followed by Bryan Edgar 18:28, Gerry O’Doherty 19:08, Leslie Ashe 19:29 and Jim Platt 22:49.
The main race of the day was the Malcolm Cup over 4 miles. This race was won by Willowfield’s Brain Campbell in 21:43.
Springwell’s had three representatives in the race. First home was Marcus Devine in 25:30 followed by Thomas Moore 27:17 and Michael Devine 27:31.
