The final round of NI & Ulster Age Group championships took place I somewhat blustery conditions at the Antrim Forum on Saturday 14th June.
Holly Brannigan drew the short straw as far as the early starts and was first up on track at 9.40am in the U17 girls sprint hurdles. It was Holly’s first time running the slightly longer 100mH and disappointingly she was the only girl entered so ended up running with the U16 boys where she came third in the race with a time of 16.53. Later in the day she also competed in the 300mH taking a silver medal in a time of 48.21.
Murphy Miller was again in imperious form when stepping up to the 1500m where she romped to victory in the U14 girls race winning the gold medal in a time of 5.05.27. Craig McMeechan on the other hand was stepping down from his favoured 3000m to compete in the U17 boys 1500m finishing just outside the medals in 4th place with a time of 4.23.71.
In the field events Beth Crosbie threw 30.51m to take the silver medal in the U17 girls hammer and later finished 5th in the 200m with a time of 29.11. Josh Majury threw 30.58m & Finlay Greer threw 28.23m to finish 4th & 6th respectively in the U16 boys javelin. Molly Longstaffjumped a new PB in the U16 girls long jump to take the bronze medal with a distance of 4.86m. Molly also ran a PB of 13.32 when finishing 6th in her heat of the 100m and was just outside her PB in the 200m final where she finished 7th in a time of 28.50.
Once again, the two Aarons dominated the sprint events with both taking double gold in their respective categories. Aaron Blackmore had to work hard to win the 100m but was more convincing over the 200m finishing first in both with times of 11.37 & 23.05. Aaron Sexton reinforced his recent good form, comfortably winning the U16 boys 100m & 200m in 11.22 & 22.77 and maintaining his impressive unbeaten record. Luke Adair who qualified alongside Aaron for both the U16 boys 100m & 200m finals, narrowly missed out on a medal finishing 4th in both with times of 12.03 & 24.62.
Alongside the age group championships, there were a number of ‘open’ events held as part of the Ballymena & Antrim anniversary celebrations. In the ladies triple jump event Laura Saulters set a new lifetime best and improved her PB set back in 2009 when she won the event with a jump of 11.28m.
Good luck to Michael Gaffney, Craig McMeechan, Olivia Cumming, Aaron Blackmore & Aaron Sexton who will be representing the Ulster Schools Interprovincial team competing at the Tailteann Games this Friday in Santry, Dublin.
