The forecast said scattered showers but the reality was that there were few dry spells when the Woodie”s National League opened on Sunday but at least it was a local venue. It was always going to be hard to raise a team on the day following the Senior Championships and even harder to perform but both North Down teams posted a satisfactory score. The mens” team were joint 3rd at the venue and joint 6th overall when results were combined from the Tullamore round. The womens” team were a clear 3rd in Antrim and 4th on the combined list.
Athletes representing the North Down Senior team for the first time were Matthew Martin, Glen Willis, Adam McComb, Steve Glass, Jodie Murphy, Aimee McNeilly, Beth Wilson and Sarah Semeraro. Not only did they all compete brilliantly but they all blended perfectly into the team ethos. Aimee at 100m hurdles, Sarah at pole vault (joint), Hannah Lewis at 200m and Niall Robinson at 800m were the only event winners but loads of seconds and thirds brought in the points. Nicola Simpson dashed from a family christening to run 800m and 4 x 400m relay, Jessica Craigfinished the RunHer 5K in second and went straight to Antrim to complete the 4 x 400m team.
Any athlete of the match award would have to go to Matthew Martin. Volunteering to cover a last minute triple jump void, he went to the simultaneous javelin (in heavy rain remember). Throwing the senior 800m javelin only for the second time he added 8m to his pb with 50.45m which held the lead until the second last throw and narrowly failed to win it on the last with another 50m plus throw. Glen Willis had a seasons best at 1500m and Adam McComb had good 400m races in the individual and relay races. Hannah Lewis at 200m with 24.50 sec and Aimee McNeilly at 100m hurdles would be the pick of the girls” results.