One of the true legends of the sport graced the Bangor Sportsplex before a good-sized appreciative crowd running 10.35 into a cold headwind and made it look so easy. Frankie was the star but it was a good night of athletics though the cool conditions made hopes of Olympic qualifying times unrealistic. There was still some very classy sprinting and the 800’s and 1500 were very competitive.
Eva Massey flew the North Down banner and won the shot with 15.74m following on from her silver at the AAA Championships last week. Paul Brizzel was the only other Northern Irish winner taking the 200m in 21.41. In the high jump Brendan McConville, David Robb and Paul Curran all competed against Sergey Kylugin the Olympic Champion. Sergey won in 2.20m with David winning local bragging rights, beating Brendan on countback for 3rd place. Michael McConkey also took 3rd place, this time in the javelin.
The mens’ 1500m was probably the most exciting race going to Kenyan Laban Rotich in 3.21.24 with excellent runs for 2nd and 3rd from English visitors Nick McCormick and Tom Mayo. While in the 800m, North Down’s John Saulters was the designated pacemaker. Race wise it was not a success as the field opted not to follow the rabbit but John ran the requested time exactly.