Congratulations to the Girls' Cross Country Team who won the second round of the league today. Having won the first round back in October, this means that they are the Southern Area champions once again! That makes it five years in a row, not having lost a single race in that time. An outstanding achievement for the girls. The points were closer this year than in the previous few years so the girls had to work hard. Four of the team finished in the top 8, and this was all the more remarkable as illness had hit the ranks. Alex Kerr, recovering from illness, finished second. Leah Balfour showed remarkable strength of character to even race, having succumbed to illness over the last number of days. Leah ran in 5th. Casey Cousins, who is improving week on week came in 6th and little Anaya Patterson (P5) , who was in danger of getting lost in the long grass, ran in an incredible 8th place.

This was enough to secure victory by 4 points over their nearest rival. 

The boys team overturned a disappointing performance in October by finishing strongly. They ran in second in their group. This result puts them 4th in the district out of 22 teams. 

Again the individuals' race was strongly represented. Special mention must go to Abi Cherry who was the find of the day. She dominated the girls' individual race from early on and finished first by a country mile. 

The boys again were strong in the individuals' race. Luke Wells and Tom Kerr (P5) finished 3rd and 4th respectively while newcomers Noah Roddick, Samuel Woods, Jaydon Turner and Kai McCartney (P5) finished 7th, 10th, 11th and 15th respectively out of 76 runners. Matthew Lamont (P7) ran in 12th.

It was another great day's racing where our athletes gave a very good account of themselves. The event took place at Portadown Rugby Club for the first time. It was a good venue as the going was good underfoot.

The Northern Ireland finals are being held at City of Belfast Playing Fields, Mallusk, on the 22nd January.