NDAC was well represented at Saturday’s NI & Ulster Relay Championships with a total of 40 athletes, making up 12 teams, competing in 9 events, resulting in two gold, three silver & three bronze medals.
Most of the athletes must have wondered what they’d let themselves in for when they woke on Saturday morning to some very unseasonal wet weather, but thankfully the torrential rain endured by the park runners earlier in the morning disappeared just in time for the start of the relays.
The 4x100m relays were first up on track where the U13 Girls team were forced to make a late substitution when Sophie Macfarlane was injured during the warm-up, so Hannah Monaghan stepped in at the last minute to lead off the team and, alongside Eva Cupitt, Abbie Irwin & Caoimhe Fenlon, began the medal haul with a well deserved silver in a time of 58.62s. The U13 Boys team of Ben Love, Charlie Palmer, Bailey Duncan & Ethan Constable followed that soon after with a bronze in a time of 60.03s
The U15 Girls event was run as two separate time trials with Emily Barry, Zara Steele, Ruby Sterrett & Hannah Monaghan finishing 7th overall in 57.33s. The Boys team of Cameron McCracken, Ryan Hamilton, Isaac Dunne & Chris Belshaw was a mixture of sprinters and middle distance runners so did well to take another bronze in a time of 52.19s.
The U17 Girls 4x100m relay was the probably the highlight of the day, as far as North Down was concerned, as the very talented quartet of Niamh Fulton, Niamh Fenlon, Morgan Wilson & Anna Cousins produced some of the slickest baton changes of the afternoon, allowing them to romp to victory and claim the gold in an impressive 52.76s.
The U17 Boys quartet of Joshua Chacko, Conor Adair, Daniel Constable & Jamie Moffat weren’t quite as slick as the girls and after crossing the line in second place were subsequently disqualified for a faulty first exchange. As a result, the quartet of Andrew Brown, Frazier Fulton, Sam Andrews & Ryan Hamilton, who recorded a time of 48.15s, were promoted from bronze to silver.
The gruelling 4×300/400m relays followed, and first up were the two U17 Girls teams. The quartet of Niamh Fenlon, Lucy Cheatley, Niamh Fulton & Rebekah Laffin took bronze in the 4x300m with a time of 3:06.62 while Lucy Magreehan, Morgan Wilson, Ellie Dines & Lauren Cheatley ran 3:16.82 in 4th.
The U17 Boys 4x400m was an incredibly close run race between the two North Down squads with the team of Sam Andrews, Frazer Fulton, Ethan Isles & Ben Acheson just pipping Conor Adair, Andrew Brown, Daniel Constable & Joshua Chacko by less than half a second with 3:51.26 & 3:51.71 respectively. Although the teams crossed the finish line in 2nd & 3rd, they were later upgraded to gold & silver after the winning team was disqualified for including an ineligible athlete.
The Senior Men’s 4x400m team was a mixture of youth & experience from the middle distance ranks. The quartet of Mark Carberry (U23), Nick Irvine (M40), Ryan Lynas(U20) & Jack Russell (M40) fought hard for every metre but just missed out on a medal and, in the end, had to settle for 5th in a very respectable time of 3:45.5
Roger Sexton