4th & 5th Jan: Weekend Round Up
Antrim International Cross Country: Andrew Coscoran (Star of the Sea AC) gained his 3rd international vest while representing Ireland in the junior race at The Antrim International Cross Country Meeting held on the grounds of Greenmount Agricultural College, Co. Antrim last Saturday. The event attracts athletes from the United Kingdom as it is race 3 of the 5 part British Athletics Cross Country Challenge was hosted by Athletics Northern Ireland. This year the race also played host to the Celtic International Cross Country.
The course on the day was a great test of cross country running with both some very fast dry sections combined with other sections that were mucky and wet along with some small sharp climbs. The race which was over 5600m started at a fast pace and from the gun both Andrew and Aaron Hanlon (Clonliffe Harriers) were to the front of the race. Andrew and Aaron who are classmates in St. Mary’s Secondary School in Drogheda, have over the past year raced against each other on a number of occasions and each have tasted victory and defeat at other’s hand. After the first lap a group of four had opened up a lead from the main bunch. This group of Aaron, Andrew, Euan Gillham and Aidan Thompson (both Scotland) pushed on as they went out on their second lap. Aaron Hanlon had opened up a small lead on the other three as they moved past the half way stage.
Taking the bell Euan Gillham had moved into 2nd place behind Aaron with Andrew and Aidan Thompson fighting it out for 3rd and 4th place. Aaron Hanlon over the final lap pressed home his advantage to take victory with Euan Gillham 2nd (1st U17 home) and Aidan Thompson getting the better of Andrew in the final 600m to finish 2nd in the Junior race with Andrew Coscoran 3rd.
The action then moved to the Athlone Indoor Arena on Sunday for the first meet of the indoor season. Rob Tully and Kourosh Foroughi flew the Star of the Sea colours at this meet. Kourosh competed in the 60m where he recorded the 7th fastest time of the day of 7.3secs out of 40 athletes. He also competed in the 60m hurdles where a mistake at the 1st hurdle left him struggling to get his stride pattern right for the remainder of the race. He was still with the leaders as they approached the final two hurdles and as he tried to push on over the last 15m he collided with the final hurdle to take a fall. However he got up to cross the line with only his pride hurt. He then took to the 800m to finish in a time of 2.07seconds.
Rob Tully competed in the 800m and he led the field from gun to tape to record the fastest time of the day namely a 1min52.33secs. This was a great initial race for the Gormanston College student as he prepares for the indoor season and there is no doubt that he can lower this mark as the season progresses.