The Cross Country runners of St John's turned out in force last week in Lurgan Park for round 2 of the Flahavan's Primary Schools Cross Country League on a wet, windy and very mucky day! 24 boys and girls took to the line across 4 races throughout the morning. The Girls Fun Run was first with Mia McNamee, Annie Parkes, Lottie O'Neill, Erin O'Rawe, Rosie McCann, Ellen Gorry, Hallie Moran and Jenny Loughran participating. Mia, Lottie and Annie got off to very quick starts across the first 100m of the course finding themselves at the front of the race which they were able to hold on to comfortably to give St John's a clean sweep of medals with Mia holding off Lottie to claim 1st place, Lottie taking second and Annie only a couple of seconds back in third! Next to cross the line was Jenny, followed by Erin, Hallie Rosie and Ellen. The next race involved Eoghán Kerr, Eoghan Connolly, Caodhan Mone and Joe Garvey who took part in the Boys Fun Run. All the boys ran well with Joe coming in ahead of Caodhan, Eoghan Connolly and Eoghán Kerr. The Girls Team Race was next with Bobbi O'Neill, Isla Scott, Éabha Connolly, Molly Parkes, Emma McGeown and Amelia-Rose Mackle making up the team. Following another fast start, Bobbi, Isla and Éabha manoeuvered themselves to the front of the field over the first 200m and were able to not only hold but extend their positions to the finish line to complete another clean sweep of the podium with Bobbi 1st, Isla 2nd and Éabha 3rd, all three girls achieving sub 5 minute times across the 1200m course, a fantastic achievement! Not far behind were Molly coming in 9th, Amelia-Rose 10th and Emma 11th resulting in the girls team topping the table for the second consecutive round. Last to race were the Boys Team consisting of Conall Mone, Lochlann McKernan, Fionn McKernan, Ethan Mackle and Fíonn Mallon. Conall got off to a very good start and achieved an excellent 8th position also finishing in sub 5 minutes, with Lochlann close behind followed by Fionn, Ethan and Fíonn. Another excellent day out for the runners of St John's! Next up is the 3rd and final round in the Palace Stables in January.
