Ciara Cunningham is Ulster Novice winner after result overturned

Ciara Cunningham has been elevated to the winner of the Ulster Novice Women’s Cross Country title after the race result was overturned.

Athletics NI have confirmed that the Tir Chonaill AC woman is now officially the race winner.

Finn Valley AC athlete Amy Greene won Saturday’s race in Stranorlar. However, since Greene won the Ulster senior 3,000m steeplechase on the track in 2022, she has subsequently been deemed ineligible.

“This unfortunately had not been picked up before the event went ahead,” an Athletics NI spokesperson told Donegal Live.

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“The provisional results from Saturday’s event were finalised and it was discovered that the athlete, had won a Senior Medal at the Track and Field Championships in 2022, which would then make her ineligible to compete at the Novice Championships.”

The spokesperson confirmed that correspondence was issued confirming that Greene was eligible, but claimed that this was issued in October 2022, since which time ‘the rules for the Cross Country where revised after the 2022-2023 season, so this may have affected her eligibility’.

The spokesperson added that the provincial body did not receive a formal appeal and expressed disappointment at how the news emerged into the public domain on Tuesday.

They said: “It is unfortunate that the athletes name and photo has been shared across social media to announce this news, as this should not have been communicated in this way.

“The athlete in question has had a sterling athletics career so far and we hope to see many more Championship titles in the future and we are disappointed on her behalf that this has been handled in this way on some a public forum.”

The Athletics NI spokesperson said the matter ‘is still being discussed internally’.

The updated results mean that Cunningham - who ran the race just six days after finishing the Dublin Marathon in three hours and two minutes - is upgraded to gold with Ella Quinn from Omagh going to second and Catriona Edington of Annandale rising to third.

Rosses AC are now officially the team bronze medalists with Finn Valley dropping out of the medal placings. Bernie Boyle (5th), Martina Mulhern (18th), Selina O’Donnell (21st) and Sarah Mulholland (23rd) were the Rosses AC scorers on the day.