from Athletic Northern Ireland website The first race in the New Springwell Primary Schools XC Cup took place in the University of Ulster, Coleraine on Wednesday 22nd Oct. The three race series for local primary schools, which is sponsored by Springwell Running Club, got off to a great start with upwards of 100 budding new athletes taking part. Rachel Mackey from Ballykelly PS was a convincing winner of the girl’s race. Rachel is currently a member of the Athletics NI Junior XC Squad following her good performances last year. Second place went to Niamh Tweedie, Portstewart PS, who is a member of Springwell’s junior section. Another Ballykelly girl, Aife McSheffrey finished in third place making Ballykelly a hard team to beat.
In the boys race Oran Barton, Portstewart PS lead home the field and is sure to be snapped up by the local club after his impressive performance. He was followed home by two Ballykelly athletes Jack McGonigle in second and Reece Vinnicombe in third.
Ballykelly were the best school on the day with top scores in both the Girls and Boys Team competition’s, making them the team to beat in the next two races if they are to be challenged for the Springwell Cup.
Points for the Cup are calculated by combining the two best performances from two out of three races so if any new schools would like to take part, they are still in with a chance of winning the overall title. Please contact Elaine Mc Caffrey on 07841804034 for more information.
A big thank you goes out to all the Springwell members who helped with organisation, making the day a wonderful experience for the youngsters.