Banbridge Academy athletes had a very successful day at the County Down District Cross Country Championships held at Dellamont park on Wednesday 19 January.  On what was a perfect day for Cross Country running, the Academy had 12 individual athletes qualify for the Ulster Championships as well as the Inter Girls’who qualified in first place.

The first race of the day saw our Mini Girls’ team (Year 8) –  Anna Chamber, Evie Hobson, Hannah Topping, Antonia Vlad, Casey Cousins and Katie Leslie, all running really well in a field of 150 runners.  Casey in particular excelled finishing in 9^th place and qualifying for the Ulster Championships.  The team finished in 4^th place, an excellent result, but just one place outside of qualification for the Ulster Championships.

Race 2, the Mini Boys’ (Year 8) – Daniel McKee and Owen Dobson, again performed well in a huge field of 150 runners.  Daniel excelled running to 10^th place to qualify for the Ulsters while Owen also had a good day finishing a very creditable 33^rd.

Race 3 was the Minor Girls’ (Year 9) with Clara Lewis and Tara Kennedy running strongly.  Clara produced a strong finish to place 15^th and qualify for the Ulster Championships while Tara achieved 21^st place.

Race 4, the Minor Boys’ – James Henning, Harry Gough and Ross McCombe.  Harry got off to a great start and was in 2^nd place at the halfway point when a pulled hamstring hampered his progress and effectively took him out of the running, although he bravely finished the race, but moved down the field as a result of the injured leg.  Ross McCombe surged on though and finished 8^th to qualify for the Ulsters and James ran solidly.

Race 5 was the Senior Girls (Years 13/14) race where Holly Fisher ran brilliantly to finish 12^th and qualify for the Ulsters while Amy Agnew also ran strongly to 20^th place.

Race 6, the Senior Boys (Years13/14) ran over a remarkable 6km distance.  Simon Ferris and Conor McKee did really well with Simon finishing 7^th to qualify for the Ulsters and Conor running to 19^th place.

Race 7, the Inter Girls team (Years 11/12) – Katie McCleery, Anna McKernan and Grace Hamilton.  Katie and Anna ran to 6^th and 7^th places respectively and both qualified for the Ulsters.  Grace also ran strongly to 20^th place resulting in the team finishing in 1^st place and they all qualify for the Ulster Championships!

Race 8, the Inter Boys’ team (Years 11/12) – Kian Moran, Jake Redmond, Sam Dorman & Kristian Brown.  Kian had a super race and finished in 9^th place to qualify for the Ulsters and Kristian also did well to finish 25^th.  Sam and Jake ran strongly to finish in the top half.

Race 9, Junior Girls team (Year 10) – Ciara Patton, Zara McCormick, Ellie Cousins & April McFarlane ran superbly.  Ellie led the team and finished 8^th to qualify for the Ulsters and was followed in by the others in good finishing positions.

Race 10, the final race of the day, was the Junior Boys team (Year 10) – Charlie Tumilty, Alex Moran, Robbie Nicholl, Samuel Stevenson and Teddy Turkington.  Alex and Charlie led the group finishing in 14^th and 15^th respectively to secure a spot in the Ulsters and were backed up by Samuel Stephenson in 16^th with Robbie and Teddy running strongly in the middle of the pack.  The team finished a very creditable 4^th place.

Overall it was an outstanding day for the Academy athletes and credit should go to every student who performed to their utmost in a tough event. The 12 individual qualifiers and 1 team qualifier are now looking forward to the Ulster Championships at Mallusk on Wednesday 9^th February.