Aaron delivers at Mighty Oaks race

12 December 2018

AFTER missing out on competing in the Seeley Cup race last weekend due to flying problems, East Down’s Aaron McGrady was really champing at the bit as he waited at the start of the Mighty Oaks Cross-Country league fixture in Cookstown on Saturday.

And he literally took off from the gun to quickly assert his class, using his pent up frustration from last Saturday to jet propel him around the demanding and muddy course — until he made a safe landing across the finish line, his time of 23.29 left him well clear of his nearest challengers, Neil Weir Willowfield (24.25) and Vincent McKenna Acorns in 24.26.

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Some of you are probably wondering who is Aaron McGrady anyway? Well, he was a talented junior with EDAC and won triple jump titles in the Young Athletes League before he went to university and settled in London after finding employment there.

He was very much into cycling before re-discovering his passion for running and he re-joined East Down AC again two years ago. He is also a member of Victoria Park and Tower Hamlets AC which won the South of England Athletic Association Fell Running Championships on the Isle of Wight in September, with Aaron winning the individual title. These championships comprise three races in two days, with the first two races on Saturday and the third and longest, on Sunday.

The races are not by any means easy individually, or collectively, the first being 3.8k, but with an ascent of 235 metres, the second 12k with an ascent of 443 metres and the third, on the following day, 21k with a 487m ascent.

Aaron was first and second respectively in the first two of the races and he calculated that he could win overall if he finished in fourth place in the third race on Sunday morning.

His eventual third place left him overall winner and as he said afterwards: “It was a beautiful setting and some very hard racing, good mental preparation for the XC season coming up.” How prophetic that was.

To further emphasise his versatility, he ran the Amsterdam Half Marathon on October 21 and came home in ninth place, posting a superb 1.12.09 which would have placed him fourth in the recent Belfast Half and sixth in the Waterside Half in Derry, so, he is a top quality runner over all terrains.

Juniors at Cookstown

Lauren Madine was the only female from the club juniors to take part in and duly won the U-14 girls’ race at the Cookstown venue and ever-dependable Mackenzie Murray was the only boy from the club in the U-16 boys’ race, and while he found the going tough, he’s learning by the week and I am confident that he’ll develop into a top class runner

First points for ladies

East Down ladies were much better represented than the men as they fielded a team of six and were more than pleased to place fifth overall and to register their first place points of the current league campaign.

The team scorers were Catherine O’Connor (10th), Niamh Kellett (12th), Deirdre Weatherall (20th) and Clare Carson (54th) giving a total of 96 points. As if to emphasise the importance of overtaking everyone possible, right to the very end, that total was matched by Acorns AC, but because their fourth scorer had finished higher than the East Down fourth-paced runner, Acorns get the better team position.

In truth, the third-placed team had only six points less than either Acorns or EDAC, so with a few extra places it could so easily have been third place. But the EDAC squad are delighted with their achievement anyway. The other two participation point scorers were Janine Murray and Ella Carroll.

Tough in Lanzarote

Rising star Gordy Graham headed for the sun in Lanzarote to make his latest marathon effort and with typical cussedness, the weather promptly stuck two fingers up at him by providing a strong headwind on the out and back course, the sting in the tail being that it was in the homeward half. Nevertheless, he should be happy with his time of 2.58.30.

Paul in great form

Paul Lloyd, hard on the heels of his PB in last week’s Seeley Cup 10k, didn’t rest on his laurels, taking on the fairly unique half marathon around the motor racing circuit at Kirkistown. In a relatively small field of just nine runners he ran well to take second place in 1.31.54.

Jingle all the way

On Sunday Callum Kent and Roisin Gaffney showed the true Christmas spirit by heading to Stormont to take part in the Jingle All the Way 5k organised by the NI Hospice Care Team to raise money for the Children’s Hospice. Callum finished ninth of 359 runners in 20.49 and Roisin was a little further back, in 81st place in 27.49. An excellent cause, so well done for giving it your support.

Schools’ cross-country

On Tuesday past several of East Down’s juniors representing their schools in the Flahavan’s Porridge Primary School Cross Country League meeting in Donard Park Newcastle, managed to qualify for the NI finals as individuals, based on their placings in the two preliminary rounds. Jodi Foster and her sister Kari from Spa Primary School and Erin Moore from St Patrick’s Primary School, Saul, finished as the top 3 qualifiers outside the qualifying teams.

Alex Robinson was not so fortunate for the boys and after a slow start, he could not find his way far enough through the traffic in a field of over 125 runners to take a qualifying position.

This weekend will see the EDAC Juniors on the road again as they travel to participate in the All-Ireland Uneven Age Group Cross-Country Championships at Navan Racecourse.

The seniors have an equally difficult and lengthy journey to participate in the North West Cross-Country in Gransha Park, Derry, but at least they only have to run 6k when they get there.

To paraphrase an old First World War marching song: “It’s a long trip to run in Derry.”

And it’s unique too in that everyone runs together, men, women, older men and women and junior men and women. It is literally an entire human race.

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