Cross Country - King's Park win again!
An exciting morning in Lurgan Park was had by all as two King's Park teams competed in the Flahavans' Cross country Northern Ireland finals' qualifier. There was also a fun run where another 20+ children tried their hand, for the first time, at competitive cross country running.
The standard has been set high over the last 7 or 8 years with the school winning 6 Northern Ireland titles. (Honours are even at 3 a piece! Three boys' titles and three girls' titles) This achievement has not been equalled as yet by any other school, and gives King's Park Lurgan, the honour of being the top Primary School school in Northern Ireland for cross country wins.
With success comes the pressure to maintain. So, today both teams stepped out carrying the weight of that expectation.
The Southern Area has traditionally been one of the strongest areas to qualify from, and today was no exception. Despite the challenges of the current situation, both teams stepped out into a highly competitive field. And we are delighted to say that both teams came through as victors, winning by fairly narrow margins in both cases.
Special mention has to go to Tom Kerr who produced something quite spectacular in the last 100 metres to win the boys' race. Close behind were Luke Wells, Brodie Hull and Noah Roderick. All top 4 runners finishing in the top 7.
Kai McCartney and Harry Sutton were not far behind, finishing 12th and 18th respectively. The girls' team had their work cut out as it was a first competitive race for all but one. Again, a top drawer performance. Special mention has to go to Anaya Patterson who finished second, to new kids on the block, Kamelija Vasilyiev and Emilee White who came third and fourth, and to Bethany Greer who came tenth. Ruby Cousins and Heidi McTernaghan completed the picture finishing 12th and 18th respectively out of a field of 65 runners.
Both teams have qualified for the Northern Ireland final in January.
The Individuals' race (or fun run) is a race for children to gain experience of competitive racing without the pressure of having to qualify for something. There were some 22 children entered into the this race, boys and girls starting together but being timed separately. In this race, (girls' section) special mention has to go to Kayla Mooney, Lucy Brown and Mia Gault who came first, second and third and to Max Wilson and Filip Zembruska who finished second and third respectively (boys section).
