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Castle Gardens Primary School, Newtownards
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Cross Country Season Opener

10th Oct 2022

We'd a fantastic morning at the opening round of the Flahavan's Primary Schools' Cross Country League, held in the glorious autumnal sunshine at Henry Jones Playing Fields, Castlereagh. The course covered a very undulating 1km which took the children around the outside of the football pitches and through several pieces of woodland with the organisers saving a very challenging climb for just before the finish.

First up were the girls. The pace was frantic at the start and while she lost a shoe early in the race, Iris recovered well to finish strongly as our second runner behind Lily B who ran a very strong and determined race throughout to be our first runner home. A very strong finish from Alisa saw her surge right alongside Lily M right on the finish line, both girls running great races in their first outing this year. Our team was completed by Victoria who after powering up the final hill held off a very fast finishing Addyson. Our congratulations are extended to all our girls who represented themselves and school so very admirably. 

The boys followed the same route as the girls race, the ground a little heavier following the earlier fun runs and girls' event. Right from the start, there was a strong Castle Gardens presence near the front with Calvin, Lukas and Daniel all featuring inside the top 20 places. At the finish, Calvin came through for an outstanding 4th place, a whisker away from a medal. Younger brother Lukas was also inside the top 10 with a great performance and a lightning quick finish. Daniel was next across the line with another excellent performance to finish in the front section of the race. Oliver ran a strong race to finish as our fourth counter, holding off the extremely spirited performances of our two youngest team members, Zac and Mason. Both Zac and Mason were determined to chase Oliver all the way home and this helped all three runners to finish the race very strongly. A very big congratulations to all our boys who put on a great display.

Our final thanks are reserved for our support team- thank you to Glen Johnston for his generosity of time in transporting the children to and from the races; it is very greatly appreciated. Thank you also to our parents who were able to make themselves available to come and support their children and the wider school team- your presence and energy undoubtedly helped spur all our runners on.

Results should be published soon and we await confirmation of the location of round two which is due to take place on 12th December.