Foyle Valley Athletic Club’s Keith Shiels is among the favourites to win the inaugural Springwell Crosscountry to be run today in the confines of the University of Ulster in Coleraine.
Foyle Valley athlete Keith Shields.
Hosted by the Springwell Racing Club, the event is the first race in the Athletics Northern Ireland Crosscountry League 2013/2014 season.
The first ever running of the event will offer a programme of races to suit all ages, with junior races taking place before the main adult events kick off.
A large turnout is expected from Ballymena Runners, City of Derry AC, Sperrin Harriers, Omagh Harriers and of course, the host club, Springwell Running Club.
Declan Reed (City of Derry AC) and Scott Rankin (Foyle Valley AC) are expected to be Shiels’ closest challengers.
Keith showed his class at last week’s NIMAA XC in Belfast, where he led from start to finish to win comfortably. On doing so, he secured a place on the Northern Ireland Masters team for the upcoming British and Irish Masters Crosscountry in Cardiff.
Declan Reed is a strong competitor over cross-country terrain and is the current Northern Ireland and Ulster Masters Crosscountry champion. He recently claimed the runners-up spot behind Shiels at the Waterside Half Marathon, completing the course in 1:09:47.
Earlier this year, the City of Derry Spartan clocked a new 10k personal best of 30:43 at the Manchester 10k.
Scott Rankin is another top athlete who last weekend pipped clubmate Shiels to top spot at Marty’s 5k, in which he ran 15:00 exactly.
Arguably Scott’s strongest outing of 2013 was his win at the Jude Gallagher 10 mile road race, when he ran 52:14.
Other local runners to watch out for will be James Brown (City of Derry AC), Cathal McLaughlin (Foyle Valley AC), Pius McIntyre (Foyle Valley AC) and Chris McGuinness (Foyle Valley AC).
All four have the ability to place well on their day – Brown and McLaughlin producing excellent performances last week at the NIMAA Masters Open XC to claim international vests, while Chris McGuinness just missed out on a podium place at Marty’s 5k, in which he recorded a speedy 15:46 to take fourth place.
Chris McPeake (City of Derry AC) should also make the top ten.
Catherine Whoriskey (City of Derry AC), fresh from a podium finish in Marty’s 5k, is among the favourites to take the ladies’ top spot.
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