The conditions at Mary Peters on Thursday night for the first meeting of the Walsin Series were far from ideal as it was cold, wet, dark and it went on for a long time but there was a very healthy attendance both in numbers and quality. North Down were well represented with lots of the younger athletes making their first appearance of the season. Jordan Stokes did well to run a pb in the U17 800m after waiting a long time for the event while in the same age group, Gareth Irvine, Karl Lamont and Michael Apsley were prominent in three field events. In the U15"s Kerrie Craig won the high jump, Lewis Atkinson medalled in discus, Matthew Hamilton, Roger Dawson, Matthew Stockton, Glen Willis, Harry Speers and Clare Pollock all featured well. The next in the series is on Thursday 24th April to be followed on Saturday by the first round of the Young Athletes League which is starting to look promising.
Also on Thursday the second race in the popular Hill & Dale Series took place at Tollymore Mountain Centre. Stephanie Hambling made her first appearance in the series and led the North Down squad home in 70th overall. Simon Cummings was 75th, Jonathan McGrath 78th, Shaun Peter O’Laughlin 132nd and Mark Hopkins 146th. The previous Thursday in the opening McVeigh Classic at Castlewellan, Jonathan was 68th, Roma McConville 131st and 2nd F50, Michael Jenkins 132nd and Mark 141st.