The final Flahavan's Cross Country League race took place at Londonderry Park, Newtownards this morning and, as usual, the Castle Gardens team were out in force, determined to perform their best on home soil. An unusual two lap course awaited the children, snaking in, out and around the many football pitches at the park. Despite the ground being pretty firm and the course appearing at first glance appearing to be on the short side, it quickly proved to be very testing for the runners.
First up were our girls team. A very fast start saw many runners over-commit but our girls paced it well with Lily B, Iris and Lily M being the first to come into view having settled well in the pack. Behind them, Alisa, Addyson and Victoria were having their own private battle with the girls exchanging places throughout the entire race. Onto the second lap and Lily B had moved clear of her two team mates, picking up some places of fast-starting runners in front of her- she finished our first counter today. Behind her, Lily M had moved ahead of Iris with a look of determination in her eyes but as they approached the finish line, Iris rallied and the girls finished absolutely level with one another- it will be very interesting to see who the chip timer has clocked as finishing first! In the latter part of the race, Addyson began to pull ahead of her two team mates with Alisa and Victoria pushing each other to the finish. Well done to the girls for their fantastic effort today- as evidenced by all the finishers, the course was much tougher than it had appeared at first glance.
Our boys were the final competitors of the day and the ground had been cut up a little by the previous two races. Nonetheless, the boys made excellent starts with Calvin appearing hot on the heels of the race leader and winner of the previous two rounds. Behind him, brother Lukas and class mate Daniel had started quickly also but both looked very comfortable and were starting to move through the pack. Oliver too had made the best start of any of his races this season and was looked incredibly focused as he made his way out on the first of the two lap circuit. Our final team member, Mason, despite his young age had made a fast but sistainable and sensible start, using Oliver as his pace guide. As the runners headed out on their final circuit, Calvin was still in a medal position and incredibly close to the race lead. On the latter part of the final lap, the gap to the leader opened only slightly as Calvin showed fabulous speed endurance and strength to maintain a medal position, finishing in third place. Lukas had continued to move through the field and was now inside the top 10 with Daniel following his lead and moving into the top 15 places. On the final bend, both Lukas and Daniel made their moves with Lukas finishing an excellent eighth place and very close to the sixth placed runner. Daniel made a similar charge and may have just sneaked into the top ten with a tenth or possibly eleventh placed finish. Very pleasingly, Oliver continued his strong start with an excellent fight on the final circuit and a very strong determined finish- an excellent way to finish the cross country series. Mason too finished strongly, chargring past two runners in the final 200m to see out the race- he has a bright future being only a Primary Five pupil and conceding two years to the majority of the runners lining up alongside him.
As always, Mr Gray and Mr Graham were delighted to be able to support the team to their excellent performances. The children behaved impeccably and gave it their best. Our thanks, as ever, are extended to our children and their families for their support in preparing for the races, with transport and for their encouragement on the day. Well done to all our runners; you should be very proud.
We will now wait to hear if any of our athletes have qualified for the Flahavan's Cross Country Final on Friday 3rd March 2023 at Mallusk Playing Fields.
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