THE NI and Ulster women’s team for the upcoming inter counties cross country championship has been named as:
| Robyn McKee | Annadale Striders | |
| Joanne Mills | Newcastle & District AC | |
| Kate Mulholland | St Peter’s AC | |
| Jennifer Martin | Tafelta AC | |
| Natalie Hall | Annadale Striders | |
| Sarah Lavery | Beechmount Harriers |
The event will be held at Wollaton Park, Nottingham on Saturday, March 9, because the usual venue of Prestwold Hall is unavailable due to a clash with a motor-racing event.
As well as being the de facto UK championships for cross country, the event incorporates the British Athletics Cross Challenge final and the trials for the World Cross Country Championships.
It has been staged at Prestwold Hall – a few miles outside Loughborough – since 2017, with the owner of the 1000-hectare estate, Edward Packe-Drury-Lowe, being an enthusiastic host, often running barefoot on the estate’s rolling grassland in his spare time.
However, Everyman Racing, who stage motor vehicle driving experiences at Prestwold throughout the year, have an event scheduled for the same day as the Inter-Counties of Saturday, March 9.
Cliff Robinson, the long-time Cross Challenge and Inter-Counties organiser, was offered Sunday March 10 for the popular annual athletics meeting but felt it was not an option due to athletes travelling from all corners of the UK and teenage athletes having school on Monday. on Park (Gary Mitchell)
The 2024 Inter-Counties will be an important event for young athletes with teams for the World Cross in Serbia selected from the meeting, whereas some senior athletes will be picked too from it.
The Nottingham venue last staged the Inter-Counties in 2009.Wollaton Park is already an established and popular venue on the domestic cross-country circuit. The Inter-Counties aside, it has staged major domestic cross-country meetings like the English National (2014, 2017 and 2020) and English Schools Champs (2023) in recent years.
