NI & Ulster Age Group Championships – North Down Athletic Club

Thank you to Roger Sexton for this comprehensive report and additional photographs from the NI & Ulster Age Group Championships.

It’s been quite some time since NDAC had a representative in the walks, let alone a medal, however, Sophie Rankin corrected that by taking silver in the U13G 1000m walk in a time of 6:16.03.

Emma Reid may have only recently joined the club but was an empathetic winner of the U15G shot putt (2.72kg) & discus (0.75kg) with impressive throws of 10.23m & 25.52m, respectively. Multi-eventer, Caoimhe Fenlon, had a busy and successful weekend claiming silver in the U15G long jump with a best effort and PB of 4.70m, bronze in the 80mH in a time of 13.27s, also a PB & another bronze in the shot putt (2.72kg) with a throw of 9.83m and a third PB of the weekend. Paige Shaw was undaunted by competing in her first Age Group Championships and finished equal 2nd in the U15G high jump with a clearance of 1.51m, however, she took the silver medal on countback.

Abbie Irwin has been getting some invaluable discus coaching from her father, himself a former thrower, and it paid off as she won the bronze medal in the U16G discus (1kg)with a best throw of 22.27m.

The U17 age group was the most successful category, from an NDAC perspective, with 4 gold, 2 silver & 5 bronze medals. Cameron McCracken got the ball rolling with gold in the 300mH in a time of 43.35s, while training partner, Josh Liggett, took the bronze in 44.59s. Later in the day, they repeated this in the 100mH, with Cameron taking gold again in 14.36s and Josh running a PB and taking bronze again in 15.13s. Cameron completed his medal haul with another bronze in the 100m in a new lifetime best time of 11.57s. Ben Kirk was also competing in his first Age Group Championships so was delighted to take bronze in the U17B 200m where, despite some miserable conditions, ran a very creditable time of 23.53s. Curtis Hughes had only recently moved up to 400m but was rewarded with a hard fought silver medal and PB of 51.84s. Anna Moran was another multi-eventer to medal, as she won silver in the U17G long jump with 4.91m (just 4cm below her PB) and gold in the javelin (500g) with a PB of 25.90m. Roger McMullan only joined the club recently but won his first ever competition, taking gold in the U17B long jump with a leap of 5.83m. On Saturday, Ben, Cameron & Anna, together with Victoria Ifonlaja, also won bronze in the U18 mixed 4x100m relay in a time of 49.80s.

Jamie Moffatt won gold in the U19B 100m, as expected, but was a little disappointed with his winning time of 10.99s. Conor Adair also attempted the difficult 200m/400m double with great success. In the 200m, he won bronze with a time of 23.25s and, in difficult conditions later in the day, followed that with gold in the 400m in a time of 51.76s, just outside pb. Ethan Isles took an impressive middle distance double with silver in both the U19B 800m & 1500m in 2:00.08 & 4:12.58, respectively.

In their final Age Group Championships, Morgan Wilson continued her recent good form by winning double gold in the U20G pole vault with a clearance of 2.50m and javelin (600g)with a throw of 28.16m, while Andrew Brown managed to claim gold and a PB in the U20B javelin (800g) with a throw of 37.27m.

Other results:

U14

Caitlyn Dickenson finished 5th in the 800m & 13th in the 1500m with times of 2:28.37 & 5:40.33, respectively

Nyla Hughes finished 6th in the 75mH in a time of 14.17s (13.13s heat) & 12th in the long jump with 4.02m

U15

Paige Shaw finished 6th in the 100m in a time of 13.95s

Ethan Constable finished 6th in the 1500m in a time of 4:34.54

James Blease finished 14th in the 1500m in a time of 5:19.38

Sophie MacFarlane finished 9th in long jump with 3.82m

Rachel Chacko finished 3rd in her 100m heat in a time of 14.28s

U16

Alex Downey finished 8th in the 800m & 6th in the 1500m with times of 2:12.09 & 4:30.25, respectively