A number of Derry’s top athletes will go up against some of the best runners in the world when they compete in the IAAF Antrim International Cross Country taking place today.
Declan Reed.
Hosted by Athletics NI at the CAFRE (Greenmount Campus) in Antrim the packed programme, which gets under way at 11.ooam, includes the Northern Ireland and Ulster Cross Country Championships as well as the British Athletics Cross Challenge and the Celtic Cross Country Challenge, a competition which will feature under-23, under-20 and under-17 teams from across the North race against teams from Ireland, Scotland and Wales.
Expected at the start line of the feature race are world cross country champion Japhet Korir (Kenya), Emmanuel Bett (Kenya), Thomas Akeyo (Uganda), Andy Vernon (Great Britain), Paul Pollock (Annadale Striders), Fionnuala Britton (Ireland), Gemma Steel (Great Britain), Charlotte Purdue (Great Britain), Freya Murray (Scotland) and London 2012 medallist Maryam Jamal (Bahrain).
Derry athletes hoping to cause an upset are City of Derry Spartans trio Declan Reed, Alan Bogle and JP Williamson (City of Derry AC.
The Spartans will expect to be in the hunt for honours in Northern Ireland and Ulster Crosscountry team event with the above-mentioned trio being joined Gary Slevin, Pajo Hamilton, Colin Roberts, Greg Roberts, James Brown, John Lenahan, Emmett McGinty, Connor Doherty, Aaron Doherty, Gavin Stevenson and Kevin Hurley.
City of Derry’s international “Triathlete of the Year” Aileen Reid is expected to challenge for the ladies’ title with up and coming fellow Spartan Marina Campbell also expected to figure prominently.
In the under-23 category (which will be run as part of the International/NI and Ulster Cross Country race), Amy McDaid (Derry City Track Club) will represent Ulster in the Celtic Cross Country Challenge while City of Derry Spartan Aoife Laverty will be hoping for a high placing in the under-17 3,600m event.
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