The final of the McCain Northern Ireland Young Athletes’ League Final took place on Saturday at Antrim in good conditions with a slight headwind into the home straight. City of Derry were first but having opted not to travel to Birmingham for the UK final, City of Lisburn take over that role. North Down were 4th with some outstanding results but were limited by gaps in some age groups, particularly among the girls. Our top age group was the U17 boys were were first in their category and they also could claim the overall Male Athlete of the Match in Andrew Mellon with his 400m victory, marginally just outside a hand-timed 18 year old League record.
Each club in the final has 6 T-shirts to distribute, one per category, to award to their own Athletes of the Match. For North Down, the U13 boy was Oliver Wakefield who won 100m in 12.99, 200m in 26.74 (both legal pbs) and long jump as well as anchoring the winning relay in which the support team gave him the baton in the lead. The U13 girl was Olivia Cumming, winner of 75m and 150m. The U15 boy was James Doherty with pbs in winning 100m in 12.28 and 200m in 25.42, again anchoring a winning relay team. Sophie Cree was the U15 girl with big points in discus and javelin. Andrew Mellon was our top U17 youth and Beth Wilson top U17 girl with a winning treble in shot, discus and javelin.