Newcastle juniors flying in Donegal

8 November 2023

WITH the recent inclement weather, there was no denying that it was going to be unavoidable muck, gutters and swimming pools at the NI and Ulster Cross Country Uneven Championships in Donegal at the weekend.

One athletics coach at Athletics NI pointed out that shouldn’t be a problem for the club with the mountain runners — and he wasn’t far wrong.

The 100-mile trip across country to Finn Valley AC at Ballybofey was undertaken by a number of Newcastle AC juniors ready to stay upright and finish with both shoes on their feet — a seemingly simple aim that many failed to achieve.

Up first was Harry McVeigh in the U-11 boys race. Harry is a figure that other runners fear on a start line and spectators talk about with awe throughout and after the race.

The on-form Harry set off strongly and although for part of the first lap he had one young fella try to match his pace, Harry wasn’t long

shaking him off and used a downhill into a very muddy section to engage his finely tuned agility and balance to pull away.

He led by 10 seconds going into the second lap and kept driving forward, letting the race unfold behind him as he cruised to a 12-second win, finishing to rapturous applause from his biggest fan, his little sister Tilly who was heard clearly over everyone shouting ‘Yay Harry.’

Coaches from other clubs went out of their way to congratulate the young champion and admired his style and undeniable talent.

As celebrations continued for Harry, attention turned to the U-13 girls race where Eve McNamara, Maisie McVeigh and Aoife Grant toed the line for the 2000m, two-looped course.

As the largest race of the day, there was plenty of scrabbling for space and position in the early stages. Eve led the way for the Newcastle girls and found herself comfortably fighting for a top 20 spot. Stealing a few spots on the final stretch was enough to secure a fantastic 19th place.

Maisie was in the thick of the race and navigated the pack well, especially in the closing stages, to take 31st place and continue her consistent good form.

Aoife engaged her now signature race tactic of the race beginning with 300m to go and picking off the runners in front, one by one, smiling every step of the way to take it home for the club.

Newcastle AC would also like to extend congratulations to local runner Hermione Sherdian who placed eighth overall in the same race with a fantastic time of 8.02.

Connaire Og McVeigh put up a tough fight in the U-13 boys race. Proving that training pays off dividends and capitalising on his recent mountain adventures, he effortlessly waded through plenty of bog and increasingly loose ground underfoot to finish in 42nd place.

Clubmate Donal McDaid, who has continued to impress this year in parkrun, dug deep around the course. Finding his cross country legs and performing on such a big platform is beginning to come together for the young lad. He finished the 2000m race in 10.37.

It was a huge jump in distance and terrain for the U-15 boys who had 3000m to run, which included two additional loops of a field-sized paddling pool.

Juniors in this race, classmates Fahlin Murphy-McKibbin, who has just turned 13, and Rónán Grant, who is due to turn 13 next week, toed the line beside boys head and shoulders bigger than them and some nearly two years their senior.

However, this didn’t faze them at all. Fahlin ran a phenomenal race, which was was well judged, managed and executed. Making up several places in the final two corners, he secured eighth place, beating some well established cross country runners in the process. An amazing performance as he eyes up the All Irelands in a few weeks.

Rónán gave every runner and spectator a lesson in resilience and determination. The 12 year-old embodied the ‘my race, my pace’ motto and was not going to be put off by the daunting task and terrain ahead. Putting faith in his legs, his training and knowing his own abilities he finished, shoes and socks indistinguishable from the mud, proud of his achievement.

With a small break in racing as the U-17 and U-19 girls race took place, Euan McIntosh was well warmed up and ready to take on the U-17 race of 4500m. In a very competitive race that included three full loops of the white course including all the water obstacles, Euan maintained strong form to finish in 26th place in 19.21.

Patrick McDaid, Ethan McMullan and Yasin Brannigan were wise in their build-up. After walking the course earlier in the day, they took advantage of the neighbouring track to complete their warm-up to keep as dry and clean as possible before embracing the four loops of the white course and all that accompanied it for the U-19 race.

With each loop the ground worsened and the puddles grew at an exponential rate, with Ethan even commenting afterwards that he didn’t expect them to be so deep. Luckily, height was on the boys’ side so that they didn’t disappear into the water features.

With many mountain miles, dodging incoming tides along the beach and years of multi-terrain race experience in his legs, it was Ethan who was the first Newcastle runner across the line in an excellent ninth place with a time of 24.18 mins.

Not far behind was Patrick, who fought hard until the very end, just missing out on catching the runner in front to finish in 25.14 and 16th place overall. Yasin had a solid run, finishing in 18th place with a time of 26.07. Fantastic performances from these young men.

After watching both of his sons compete earlier in the day, Damien McDaid, who is no stranger to a mucky battle out on course, pulled on his spikes and was the sole representative for the Newcastle AC senior men in the novice men’s race.

Enduring the ups and downs, lumps and bumps, muck and gutters of the 6000m course, Damien completed the course in 28.19 for 63rd place overall.

There is much to celebrate as this young cohort of runners grow in event experience and start to become seasoned participants at such prestigious large scale events.

It has brought to the forefront the endless talent of our junior runners in South East Down with no less than 11 of the club runners qualifying for the All Irelands in Kilkenny as part of the provincial and county teams after spectacular performances at the NI & Ulster Even Age Group Cross Country Championships in Comber with many more qualifying this weekend for another road trip to Navan in December for the Uneven equivalent of the event.

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