Eighteen Academy athletes didn’t let the conditions spoil their success at the County Down Schools Cross Country Championships, held on 28th January at a muddy Dellamont Country Park; and in ten races, 2 athletes claimed Gold and 4 more qualified for the Ulster championships at Mallusk.

With the wet weather the course was understandably heavy, and indeed had to be altered to allow the races to continue.  Credit should go to the organisers and to the Dellamont Country Park staff for ensuring the event could continue.

The winners were the in-form Patrick McNiff (Inter Boys) and Rebekah Nixon (Senior Girls). Both athletes have pedigree on both the track and in Cross Country but both are in particularly sparkling form at the minute due to intensive off-season training and both proved their worth with dominant performances to claim the Golds.
In the Mini girls race Nadia Radcliffe had a superb race to finish 9th overall and qualify for the Ulster Championships, while in the Mini boys race Marcus McNeill also ran brilliantly in a field of over 200 athletes to finish in 15th spot and claim his place in the Ulsters.
In the Minor Girls race Ruby McNiff, younger sister of Patrick, showed her natural talent as she cruised around to finish in 7th place in another large field. All the more impressive as she is primarily a swimmer and has not ran a race this year!
The Achttp://www.banbridgeacademy.org.uk/ademy’s final qualifier was Bethany Nixon, running in the same race as Ruby, who finished strongly to claim 5th place and her place in the championships. These two results, plus great runs from Kathryn McGrath 21st, Leah Donnelly 41st and Lucy Bradshaw 43rd saw the Minor girl team finish fourth overall and narrowly miss out on qualification by just one place.
Credit also should go to the Academy’s other runners who braved the atrocious conditions to race and each one ran well and gave their all: Hannah Spence, Charlotte Thompson, Carly Wilson, Rebecca Spence, Elizabeth Little, Katie Little, Adam McKibbin, Jacob Somerville and Thomas McIntosh.
The Ulster Championships will be held at the Mallusk Playing fields in Belfast on Wednesday 10th February and we wish all the athletes well as they compete for Ulster titles.