Saturday 27th October 2007- University of Ulster, Jordanstown Almost 900 young athletes from all over Ulster made the journey to the University of Ulster Jordanstown on Saturday 27th October to compete in the Northern Ireland & Ulster Juvenile Cross Country Championships There are twenty individual titles on offer ranging from U10 to U18 where these aspiring athletes strived to take one of the ten individual titles on offer, as well as helping their club and county teams to the honours. The championships are a joint venture between the Northern Ireland Athletic Federation and the Ulster Athletic Council which are sponsored by the University of Ulster this year. In all it was a fine day's Cross Country, with comprehensive victories for Iona Macey-Lillie of Willowfield Harriers, Shane Maguire Monaghan Phoenix, Cian O’Reilly of Annalee AC. The talented Ciara Mageean from City of Lisburn had an easy win over 2000m ahead of Joanne Mills (East Down AC). In contrast what would a Cross Country meet be without a close finish and on the day there were a few of those. In the U18 Girls Rachel Campbell lead from the start to within 100m of the finish with Suzanne Smith and Rachel Gibson following closely in behind. With 80m to go Rachel Gibson kicked into her 800m mode coming from 3rd place to take the gold with Susan Smith (2nd) also out kicking Rachel Campbell who had looked for a long time the clear winner. The Boys U18 race was one of the most competitive of the day and with 52 athletes battling it out. Andrew Gourley (Willowfield Harriers) had a superb race looking comfortable throughout, breaking away from the top group to form a clear lead and taking the title 15 seconds ahead of second placed European medal winner Noel Collins from Omagh Harriers. Only one second behind Collins was Milford’s Dan King and Michael McKillop in fourth from St. Malachy’s AC who took the team title. Of the ten individual titles’, athletes from Antrim took a total of five, while Donegal finished with four. Top team winners were Finn Valley who had a large contingent of athletes present and medalled in nearly all of the races. St. Michael’s Enniskillen, Lagan Valley and St. Malachy’s were other teams who took team titles. Incidentally the top twelve athletes and the first three Club and County Teams in the Under 12 to Under 18 age group qualify for the Irish Championships in The Curragh, Kildare on Sunday 25th November. Kerry Harty, Athletics Development Officer commented on the event: "This was a highly successful day of athletics with hundreds of potential stars of the future competing in the fast conditions at the University of Ulster's campus in Jordanstown. It was rounded off with a tree planting ceremony to commemorate Abbey A.C's founder member Bobby Rea who trained many young athletes at Jordanstown and died prematurely last year. This event is part of an ongoing programme to cement the University of Ulster's status as a centre of sporting excellence, and with the new high performance centre nearing completion it can only go from strength to strength". Top 3 U18 Boys- Noel Collins, Andrew Gourley and Dan KingBoys U16 Race led by Adam Ingram (in blue- Lagan Valley Club, finished 2nd) and Cian O’Reilly (yellow Annalee AC- finished 1st) BOBBY REA MEMORIAL XC RACE (Seniors) Pictured: President of NIAF Adrienne Smyth, UUJ Provost Bill Clarke, NIAF Honorary Treasurer Roy Corry and AAI President Michael Heery. The inaugural Bobby Rea Memorial Cross Country race seen athletes and friends of the former NIAF Chairman turn up to commemorate Rea’s contribution to athletics in Northern Ireland. Fifty per cent of the proceeds from the races will benefit Macmillan Cancer Support. Organised by Abbey Athletics Club and the NI Athletic Federation, the race attracted just over 100 finishers with top local competitors out in force. It was fitting that both the senior men and women’s races were won by Abbey AC athletes. Paul Pollock led for the majority of the race winning in 25.31 over five miles. He was followed by Brendan Tier (East Down AC) in 25.45 followed by Jarleth Halls who was running for the University of Ulster team. Abbey AC also took the honours of first team. The women’s race was 5 miles with the other Abbey winner being Judi Graham who also led from the off finishing in 18.28 ahead of Suzanne McCormick (Lagan Valley) and Claire Connor. The day finished with a touching gesture by the Provost of the University of Ulster, Bill Clarke. A tree was planted at the new High Performance Sports Centre in memory of Bobby Rea. Chairman Mr. David Seaton paid tribute to his friend Bobby who worked tirelessly in the sport at all levels.