News

14th December 2011 THE SPARTANS WELCOME ALL COMERS TO SATURDAYS NW CROSS COUNTRY

Its Wednesday afternoon, December 15th, its dry, bright and sitting at 7/8 degrees centigrade and i,ve just come back from a 30 minute run around the course to be used at this Saturdays NW XCountry meeting in Gransha.

Given the recent weather the course is surprisingly runnable.....minimum 9mm spike pins may do the job although i personally would go for 12,s. There,s a couple of mini lakes but they will be by passed....if they,re still there come Sat.....and guess what, the weather outlook right up to the weekend is looking pretty good.....check out todays Irish Times if you dont believe me!

Theres a full race programme starting at 11 30am with the U13,s and proceeding through the U15,s at 11 40am; U17,s at 11 55am and concluding with the 12 20pm start of the Open 6K for U 20,s; Masters and Seniors.

New this year is the 6 to score Mens and 4 to score Womens Team races in the Open 6K.....£90 and £60 to the winning teams.

Entry fees for all the underage races are £1/E2 and all finishers will get a ribboned medal for their endeavours. Schools and Clubs should note that these races are excellent preparation for the upcoming District qualifying races.

On the day entry for the Juvenile races will open at 10am.

The Open race is a scoring race in the NI Masters and the Athletics NI Winter Leagues and is set to attract an impressive entry from the North West and beyond. Courtesy of Eamonn Gee and the Foyle Valley Wine Club, there is an excellent prize list covering all the usual categories, David McKibbin will be there with his well informed commentry and the usual post race refreshments will provide some welcome cheer after all the effort out on the course.

Pre entry can be made up to 5pm, FRIDAY DEC 16th, by emailing fudgelarge@gmail.com Just send NAME/GENDER/DOB/CLUB.

Race Packs can then be collected from 10 30am Sat morning at race HQ....U3A Foyle Premisses in the Gransha Grounds,adjacent to the start/finish area.

So, get along to the sunny North West this Saturday for a bracing pre Christmas run out......you,ll be very welcome..see you there.


Gerry Lynch
Secry, City of Derry Spartans AC