Comber Cup

October 10, 2015 by Brian Todd

Traditionally the Comber Cup kicks off the cross country season. The races are run by Ballydrain Harriers at the magnificent Billy Neill football grounds on the Comber Road. Although the football pitches are comparatively flat, Norman Mawhinney always manages to find a drumlin or two for his race to make sure that we don’t have it too easy. The course is 6k for the ladies (three laps) and 8k (four laps) for the men.

It is a picturesque course too, incorporating a lake and a fairly steep climb up the side of the said drumlin, which provides the runner with great views of the surrounding County Down and beyond. A sharp descent takes the runner back to the start and finish area. This race is always superbly well organised and directed by the Ballydrain club.

Not only are we representing the club as individuals, but also as teams. Both the ladies and men are required, if possible, to field a minimum of sixteen runners to earn team points towards the Cross Country League. Essentially a team consists of a minimum of four runners and team positions up to sixth place will be based on best four runners (from 12 points for 1st team to 2 points for 6th team). However, in addition to whatever team points are scored, if any, each club runner up to a maximum of 16 will score a single point towards the team total.

So, in the League both the men and the ladies need to be fielding a minimum of 16 runners to maximise their points and team position. However, males over 60 who elect to run in the shorter ladies race cannot earn points towards their team total. Essentially this means that old stagers like myself usually end up running in the less comfortable men’s race in which there is a grave danger of being lapped by at least the front runners. By the way, there is an internal OAC cross country competition between the ladies and men’s teams, the Titanic Cup. The OAC ladies are the current holders, or so they keep reminding us! The next round of the League is the Bobby Rea cross country at Jordanstown on the 24th October.

Anyway, the day was perfect for cross country, dry with little wind and not too warm. Conditions underfoot were fine. Only on one part of the course was there a softness in the turf. There are two fairly steep climbs on this course, but both are short at least and the runner is adequately rewarded by a significant downhill section at the end of the lap. This allows for a very fast finish if you are willing to throw caution to the wind. There was a lot of orange scattered about the place today. Getting a seat in the OAC gazebo was almost impossible, but we were glad to have it nevertheless and thank you to those who organised its transport and erection. The generally jovial mood was contributed to by the appearance of a cake with candles in celebration of Jill Holland’s twenty-third birthday. The ladies set off at 1.30pm. Three Orangegrove gents set off with them, Brian Todd, Jim Harris and Hugh Young. All three of us were severely jostled at the start by the bevy of lovely ladies but we didn’t complain and even hoped for a little more jostling further around the course! The men went at 2.30pm and, from a spectator’s point of view, it was incredible how strung out the field became after less than half a lap with Mark McKinstry (North Belfast Harriers) and Brian Campbell (Willowfield Harriers) setting an astonishing pace at the front.

So, how did it go for Orangegrove today on the Comber Road?

Ladies Race (6K) and Male Vets (60+)

M60	Brian Todd	26.50.2
	Julie McKimm	28.03.5
	Ashleigh Collim	28.54.6
	Lisa Fleming	29.18.4
	Emma McWilliams	29.36.0
	Jill Holland	29.45.7
	Kerris Hamilton	30.59.1
	Verity Cornford	31. 07.4
	Sharon Dickenson	31.52.8
M60	Jim Harris	32.05.6
	Kirsty Buchanan	32.55.6
	Alison Hall-Thompson	32.55.6
	Eleanor Acheson	33.03.7
M70	Hugh Young	35.03.5
	Trish Magill	33.06.9
	Sharon Corken	33.36.0
	Hannah Macleod	34.22.8
	Linda Craig	37.47.9
	Mairead Napier	38.02.3
	Sharon McFarland	39.02.2
	Paula O’Reilly	39.42.4

A super team turnout by the Orangegrove ladies. Well done Julie McKimm and a very inspired run too from Ashleigh Collim who seems to revel in the mud. Let us hope we can get her muddied up on a few more occasions. Well done all! The ladies race was won by North Down’s Jessica Craig in 22.49.7.

Men’s race (8k)

Robin Montgomery	32.14
Andrew McIntyre	32.20
Tim Robinson	34.13
Des Fahy	34.16
Stephen Anderson	35.42
Fintan Hurl	42.15
Ian Wilson	42.24

As per usual, great runs by Robin Montgomery and Andy McIntyre and, indeed, all the men, although spikes on the ground were not as numerous as those of the ladies. The men’s race was won by Mark McKinstry (North Belfast Harriers) in 26.18.

Presumably team results will be published in due course.

However, it wasn’t just the adults that were running the cross country at Ballydrain on Saturday. A considerable number of our junior club members were in action as well and very well they did too:

P6	Sam Rainey	5.06
P7	Matthew Sykes	4.45
P7	Andrew Corken	5.10
U13	Rory Hall-Thompson	11.53	2nd place
U15	Andrew McCord	12.57
U15	Adam Sykes	13.12
U15	Ben Hall-Thompson	13.26
U15	Iseult Fahy	13.31
U15	Tom Smith	13.51