The first round of the AAI Woodies National League took place in beautiful conditions on Sunday with one group match handily placed in Antrim. The North Down teams in this senior competion, both in the top Premium Division, faced contrasting situations. The mens team, 3rd in the 2011 final, romped to a big win ahead of St Abbans and Clonliffe Harriers. There wee missing some names but were well covered with plenty of depth and all athletes were comfortable with their events, able to run a few non scorers. Event winners included James Budde at steeplechase, Alan Kennedy at triple jump, Matthew Stockton at javelin and, aways a great way to finish, the 4 x 400m relay. Seconds went to captain Kenny Elliott at 400mH, Brendan McConville at discus and pole vault, Callum Graham at long jump and Pete Glass at high jump with a non scoring pb of 4.90m in the vault thrown in. Thirds were the 4 x 100m team, Brendan McConville at 110mH, East Down guest Brendan Teer at 5000m and Paddy McGrattan at 56lb weight.
The womens team had a real scramble on their hands, missing students not yet back and school age athletes with exams, outnumberd and a scoring event down from the start. They had to make every point count, speciality event or not. The team were 5th out of 8 but most teams were bunched within a narrow points range. Team captain Kathy Hetherington won discus and was 2nd at shot and other wins went to Rachel Gibson at 800m and senior debutante Alex Catherwood, both with classy performances. Jessica Craig had a second at 1500m and thirds went to Roberta Dornan at 300m and 1500m walk, Laura Saulters at triple jump and Rachel Keys 3rd or 4th at hammer. Results and report to come when results are published.