[Not a valid template]In a non-stop deluge, at the ESB League Final on Saturday in Tullamore, North Down Senior Mens Team retained the All Ireland Premier Division title after a nail-biting tussle with Clonliffe Harriers. Conditions were truly awful, awful for competitors, awful for officials, awful for travelling. North Down had a total of 117 points, Clonliffe Harriers 113.5 and Raheny Shamrocks 101. Event winners were Peter Glass at long jump, Tom Reynolds at 110m hurdles, Tom Patton at 400m hurdles, Jeremy Harper at shot and discus and Michael Dyer at 800m.
[Not a valid template]North Down Senior women had their best ever team result by medalling in Division 1, finishing third on 97 points behind Borrisokane on 106 and County Meath on 102. With 8 girls covering the necessary 15 events, this was a tremendous performance and wins came from Eva Massey at shot, Caroline Hussey at 200m and Caroline, Katie Hewitt, Alison Lavery and Lauren Scott in a superb 4 x 400m relay.Both North Down teams were devoid of guests. Abbey again won the Premier Division for women with 107.5 points with Dundrum South Dublin on 101 and Bandon 100 while the Division 1 went on countback to West Waterford from St Abbans, both on 110, with Galway on 104.In the perverse way of these things, the atmosphere got better as conditions got worse. Competitors and officials accepted the inevitable and just got on with it. The whole North Down squd was terrific and forgot pb”s and concentrated on grinding out the points. A sodden Eva Massey said it was the most fun she”d had all season and claimed an uphill shot record.
[Not a valid template][Not a valid template]Some pb”s did get through. We squeezed one last race out of Jordan Neil who heads to Louisiana on Tuesday for the Americal College scene. In his first outing at 5000m he set a new club record of 15:22.56 min and looked capable of a lot more although he was not enthusiastic about the event. Lauren Scott got an 800m pb with 2:24.64 min.as did Stephanie Hambling who extended her club veteran record. Caroline Hussey had a 200m pb in winning the event. Francis Marsh established a steeplechase record for the club and proved he can still hack the event and threaten the Northern Ireland record. Michael Dyer probably had the race of his life. But on the whole it was the team performance that carried the day.
The mens 4 x 100m was Stuart Brown, John Saulters, Tom Reyno;ds and Philip Browne and the 4 x 400m was John Saulters, Tom Reynolds, Tom Patton and Michael Dyer. In both womens relays the team was Alison Lavery, Lauren Scott, Katie Hewitt and Caroline Hussey.
Race Videos by Phil Browne
Video – Premier Mens 4 x 400m Relay
North Down Results
| Men | |
| 100m | Tom Reynolds 5th 11.72 |
| 200m | John Saulters 5th 23.41 |
| 400m | John Saulters 2nd 50.84 |
| 800m | Michael Dyer 1st 1:53.39 |
| 1500m | James Budde 4th 4:06.47 |
| 5000m | Jordan Neil 3rd 15.22.56 pb/club record |
| 110mH | Tom Reynolds 1st 15.67 |
| 400mH | Tom Patton 1st 54.77 |
| 3000m walk | Robin Brown 5th 16:58.75 |
| 3000m S/C | Francis Marsh 4th 10:17.29 pb/club veteran record |
| 4 x 100m | 6th 47.08 |
| 4 x 400m | 2nd 3:25.49 |
| Shot | Jeremy Harper 1st 13.06 |
| Discus | Jeremy Harper 1st 47.66 |
| Javelin | Brendan McConville 2nd 45.53 |
| 56lb weight | Paul Kirkpatrick 3rd 5.61 |
| Long jump | Peter Glass 1st 6.73 |
| High jump | Peter Glass 2nd 1.90 |
| Triple jump | Tom Reynolds 4th 11.53 |
| Pole vault | Brendan McConville =2nd 4.50 |
| Women | |
| 100m | Caroline Hussey 2nd 13.25 |
| 200m | Caroline Hussey 1st 26.85 |
| 400m | Alison Lavery 4th 64.00 |
| 800m | Lauren Scott 3rd 2:24.64 pb |
| 1500m walk | Janine Munnis 4th 9:44.95 pb/club record |
| 100mH | Katie Hewitt 2nd 17.00 |
| 400mH | Katie Hewitt 2nd 67.99 |
| 3000m | Stephanie Hambling 6th 11:37.87 pb/club veteran record |
| 4 x 100m | 4th 53.65 |
| 4 x 400m | 1st |
| Shot | Eva Massey 1st 15.00 |
| Discus | Gemma McAnirn 2nd 24.73 |
| Javelin | Janine Munnis 4th 24.40 |
| Hammer | Gemma McAnirn 5th 19.31 |
| Long jump | Katie Hewitt 3rd 4.80 |
| High jump | Alison Lavery 5th 1.40 |
| Triple jump | Alison Lavery 5th 9.06 |