Four team victories and two individual titles highlighted an excellent days racing for St. Malachy’s athletes!

Diarmuid Hanna surged clear in the second half of the Mini boys (Yr8) 1500m race to lead home the field of 80 runners. Caoimhin Killyleagh grabbed 6th place in a sprint finish. Eoghan Breen, Luke Ferris and Conor McAlister packed well, running most of the race close together and finishing in 10th, 11th and 14th respectively. Evan Stanley in 25th and Caolan Hanna in 46th completed the College runners. The team finished 1st out of 12 teams.

POS POINTS TEAM MINI BOYS (Yr8) : (4 To Count)

1 28 ST MALACHY'S, BELFAST

2 37 METHODIST COL, BELFAST

3 49 ROYAL BELAST ACAD INST

4 95 BELFAST HIGH SCHOOL

5 111 RATHMORE, BELFAST

6 116 FRIENDS' SCH, LISBURN

7 137 BELFAST ROYAL ACADEMY

8 148 ST PATRICK’S, BELFAST

9 154 WALLACE HIGH SCHOOL, LISBURN

10 187 ST MARY'S

11 223 COLAISTE FEIRSTE

12 243 ST PATRICK’S, LISBURN

In the Minor boys 2000m event Matthew Lavery and Luke Kelly were locked in a three way battle for the win with an athlete from St. Mary’s until the final 200m when Matthew pulled clear for a gutsy victory. Luke finished close behind in 3rd. Cian McGrath broke away from the chasing group to secure 4th place and Conall McGirr finished powerfully to make the top 10 and complete the scoring quartet. Kelvin Kearney continued to improve in 16th, while Leo Ashe in 27th and Simon Ostermayer in 43rd were the other College runners. The team had a large margin of victory.

POS POINTS TEAM MINOR BOYS : (4 To Count)

1 18 ST MALACHY'S, BELFAST

2 53 ST MARY'S

3 61 ROYAL BELFAST ACADEMICAL INSTITUTION

4 66 BELFAST HIGH SCHOOL

5 69 METHODIST COLLEGE, BELFAST

6 134 FRIENDS' SCHOOL, LISBURN

7 136 GLENGORMLEY HIGH SCHOOL

8 199 BELFAST ROYAL ACADEMY

9 212 ST PATRICK’S, BELFAST

The Junior (Yr10) and Intermediate (Yr11&12) teams tied for the lowest score of the day with both teams placing runners in 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th places and scoring 14 points.

Fionntan Campbell claimed silver in the Junior boys 2500m after challenging for the individual win for most of the race. Ruari Gallagher showed a strong finish and a welcome return to form to pip Daniel McComiskey for the bronze medal. Callum Morgan took 5th place and Oscar Smyth 6th to seal a fantastic team performance. Darragh Gorman in 12th and Adam Wright in 14th both produced their best performances to date and would have counted on any other team in the race.

Conall McClean and Adam Ferris had a good battle for the minor medals in the Intermediate boys 4000m race with Conall prevailing in the end. Their training partner and St. Malachy’s AC athlete Tony McCambridge had taken victory for St. Patrick’s Bearnageeha. Cormac O’Rourke, Conal Browne, and Matteo Lavorca occupied 4th to 6th places. Fionn McQuillan in 12th and Thomas Reid in 14th completed the College runners.

The Senior boys secured second place despite one of their runners stepping up from the Intermediate age group. Kieron Conway in 9th, Conor O’Rawe in 10th, Niall Armstrong in 16th and Emmet Maguire (only a year 11) in 18th were their four scorers. They lost out to a strong Friends team that included two individual medalists. St. Malachy’s AC athlete Eoin McCann (Rathmore) took the individual silver.

All five teams qualified for the Ulster Schools Cross Country Championships which will take place on Wednesday 22nd February at Mallusk. They will compete there for provincial titles and for places in the All Ireland Schools in early March.