The fourth and final Qualifying Round of the NI Young Athletes League took place at Antrim on Saturday. With the Final taking place this year at Mary Peters, only five teams can qualify with all other athletes eligible for the Chairmans Select. North Down Boys improved their position to 3rd and qualified easily enough. The Girls Team made a good effort also and improved their position to 6th but could not overcome poor U13 turnouts and were 4 points off the cut-off. They can expect to a big representation in the Chairmans Select and still compete for medals and prizes. The provisional results have now been updated and include photo finish times.John Saulters, James Budde, Robin Brown (who also had a full portfolio of YAL events), Alex Donald all featured in the associated programme of senior events which was well supported. Mark Kirk of Ballymena and Antrim ran 4:05.02 for 1500m to break Francis Marsh”s recently acquired veterans record, breathing new life and rivalry ino the vets scene.
