Aine produces a fantastic run to win Under-18 800 metre title

After last weeks superb XC performance by Aife McSheffrey it was another of our star-studded stable of Junior athletes that caught the eye.

This time Aine McKinney produced the goods, with a stunning victory in the Girls U18 800m final at the NI & Ulster U18 800m Indoor Championships, at the Meadowbank Stadium on Saturday.

Despite the high calibre opposition, Aine blew her opponents away, winning by a clear 50” over her nearest rival in a very rapid time of2:28:22, in what was an outstanding individual performance. Fantastic run Aine, very well done!

It was great to see a number of our very talented Juniors compete at the very highest level in a variety of events, at these very competitive finals.

The club was represented by Roan Wilson in the U13 Boys 60m and 600m, Jessica Morgan in the U14 Girls 60m, Laura Brolly and Natasha Simmons in the U15 Girls 60m, Emily Irwin in the U16 Girls 60m and Ryan Cullen in the U19 Boys 400m.

Tolulope Jide Ojo also had a superb run in the U14 Girls 800m, finishing in a brilliant 9th overall in an excellent time of 2:41:15, showing great potential for the future. Another great turnout by our Juniors with some excellent individual results

Also on Saturday, nearly seven hundred athletes descended on Antrim Castle grounds for the penultimate race in the Born 2 Run ‘Run Forest Run’ Series, the Antrim Castle 10k.

Springwell had two female representatives taking part, with Michelle Sweeney first home for the club in 56:48 and Lorraine Abernethy next in 1:01:35. Well done to both ladies for showing such great enthusiam for taking part in competitive racing, at this very early stage of their running careers!

On Saturday two of the club’s much loved male Ultra specialists, Ross Armstrong and Andy Dowey travelled to West Yorkshire, to take part in the Rombalds Stride, which is a 25 mile challenge walk which usually takes place the first Saturday in February. Runners make up about half of the 300-400 competitors who take part in the event,which traverses Rombolds/Ilkley Moor, rising to 400m above sea level, on what turned out to be a damp, dismal, cold, wet and windy day.

They both later claimed to have enjoyed it immensely, though it may have been the Steak & Ale pie dinner they were rewarded with at the end of the race they were referring to, rather than the race itself!

As of going to press no official results are yet available, but well done to both guys on an outstanding effort on that terrain and in those conditions. Pie well and truly earnt!

The first in the Finn Valley 5k series took place on Sunday 7th, in Letterkenny and on this cold, wet and windy morning, on a tough course, talented younster Dale Corbett battled through to finish strongly in 5th place overall, with a fine time of 18:04, with a fine time of 18:04 in these conditions, in a field of over 240 finishers.

Congratulations to Dale and great to see you travel such a distance and compete so well on behalf of the club.