It was a successful evening for NDAC at the Titanic Visitors Centre on Wed 24th January where senior & junior athletes (inc. Olympians & Paralympians), coaches, administrators & officials attended the Athletics Northern Ireland annual awards.
The first batch of awards recognised athletes (and their coaches) who competed at international championships. Craig McMeechan (Francis Marsh) & Aaron Sexton (Roger Sexton) received certificates to acknowledge their participation in the European Youth Championships in Tbilisi while Ben Reynolds (Tom Reynolds) received a certificate for competing in the European Championships in Amsterdam.
As part of the various coaching awards, Ollie Wakefield was presented with the ‘Young Coach of the Year’ award for his continued commitment and dedication to coaching younger athletes, not only through the North Down Rising Stars programme but also in our own fundamentals section of the club.
All NI record breakers were presented with a trophy to mark the occasion, including Aaron Sexton who set a new NI U18 200m record of 21.65s when competing at the Irish U17 Age Group Championships in Tullamore last July.
Perhaps the most popular winner of the evening was Claire Scarth who received a rapturous round of applause when collecting the ‘Sean Kyle Award for Service to Coaching’ in recognition of her immense contribution to athletics in Northern Ireland. With a coaching career spanning over 40yrs, Claire has been at the forefront of North Down T&F success for many years, having produced athletes from junior to senior level who have competed across multiple events at national and international level including several Commonwealth Games.
To round off the North Down involvement on the occasion, Davie Seaton had another great display of hosting the show. Introducing the athletes, guests and prize winners Davie carried it off with his usual charm and wit.
