Tullamore’s Liam Brady proved best of the Irish at the Antrim International held – later this year than usual – at the Greenmount campus. Brady finished 14th in a race that was dominated by African athletes with Thomas Ayekoe of Uganda retaining the title he had won a year earlier. A strong Home Countries contingent was led home in fifth place by Andrew Maud, representing the South of England.
Ireland had sent a development team and Brady’s time of 34 minutes 13 secs saw him finishing less than a minute behind Maud. He was followed by John Eves of DSD, 22nd, and Bohermeen’s Darragh Rennicks just one place behind. An excellent 19th was Irish masters’ champion Declan Reed of City of Derry who was the leading Northern Irish athlete. The Irish team finished fourth behind England and regional squads from the south and the north of England.
In the women’s junior race, Hope Saunders finished eighth and best of the Irish, with England taking the top three places. Behind her in 18th place was Rhona Pierce who, a week earlier, had beaten her for the senior girls’ title at the All Ireland Schools’ Championships. The team finished fifth with England the victors.
Last year, Fionnuala Britton had finished fourth in the senior women’s race, but there were no athletes from south of the border in action this year, won by Ethiopia’s Birtukan Fente Alemu from former winner Steph Twell of Scotland.
Antrim International and Home Countries Cross-Country, Greenmount Campus, Co Antrim. www.athleticsni.org.
Men – Senior 10,000m (43 finishers): 1 Thomas Ayeko (Uganda) 31.27, 2 Edwin Sol (Ken) 31.40, 3 Jonathan Ndiku (Kenya) 32.25, 4 Gideon Kimosop (Ken) 32.26, 5 Andrew Maud (S Eng) 33.19, 6 Dean Lacy (Eng) 33.25. Irish – 14 Liam Brady 34.13, 22 John Eves 34.40, 23 Darragh Rennicks 34.54, 29 Mark Dooley 35.29, 31 David Flynn 35.33, 32 Andrew Connick 35.45, 36 Conor Bradley 36.16, N Irish – 19 Declan Reed 34.33, 35 Scott Rankin 36.03, 37 Alan O’Hara 36.27, 38 Mark McKinstry 36.32. Teams – 1 England 28, 2 S England 34, 3 N England 42, 4 Ireland 59, 5 Scotland 64, 6 Wales 79….8 N Ireland 91.
Junior (26 finishers) : 1 Jonathon Davies (Eng) 22.15, 2 Joe Steward (Eng) 22.35, 3 Kieran Woods ( S Eng) 22.46. N Irish – 21 Ryan Sharkey 24.17, 24 Conal McCambridge 24.45, 25 James Smyth 24.48, 26 Michael Melarkey 25.18. Teams – 1 S England 16, 2 England 19, 3 Scotland 30… 7 N Ireland 70.
Women – Senior 5,600m (34 finishers): 1 Birkutan Fente Alemu (Eth) 24.12, 2 Steph Twell (GBR) 24.28, 3 Birkutan Adamu (Eth) 24.49, 4 Maddie Murray (Sco) 25.03, 5 Sonja Roman (SOL) 25.17, 6 Nicola Sykes. N Irish- 25 Emma Mitchell 26.47, 31 Cathy McCourt 27.41, 33 Louise Smith 28.20. Teams – 1 England 30, 2 Midlands 30, 3 Scotland 38…8 Northern Ireland 89.
Junior (31 finishers): 1 Rebecca Murray (Eng) 18.50, 2 Jennifer Nesbitt (Eng) 19.05, 3 Elizabeth Mooney 19.25. Irish – 8 Hope Saunders 19.46, 18 Rhona Pierce 20.18, 22 Deirdre Healy 20.39, 23 Avril Deegan 20.50, 25 Aoibhe Richardson 21.08, 26 Orlaith Moynihan 21.21. N Irish – 28 Elish Flanagan 21.42, 29 Aoife McSheffrey 21.55, 30 Roisin Flanagan 21.58. Teams – 1 England 6, 2 Scotland 25, 3 N England 30, 4 Midlands 41, 5 Ireland 48…8 N Ireland 87.
No comments yet.