Enniskillen’s Conan McCaughey produced a fine run to place 14th at the Antrim International Cross Country event at Greenmount College on Sunday.

McCaughey, who races for Derry Track Club, represented Northern Ireland at the event at Greenmount College and he covered the muddy 9km course in a time of 27:07mins to finish 14th overall.

The race was won by Kenyan Conseslus Kipruto in 24:36mins, following on from his victory in the 3000m Steeplechase at the Rio Olympics in much warmer conditions.

This was McCaughey’s first appearance for Northern Ireland in cross-country, and his performance saw him the third Northern Ireland runner home and fourth Irish athlete finisher in the annual event, which also attracted teams from Scotland, England and Ireland.

And the athlete hopes that this will be a good basis for him to push on with his focus firmly on the NI/Ulster Intermediate Cross Country Championships which will be held in a fortnight.

“I am hoping this will act as a good foundation for my main winter target, the NI/Ulster Intermediate Cross Country Championships in Gransha in two weeks, where I will be looking to go one better having came second in the previous two editions,” commented McCaughey.