The second round of the NI Youth League took place on Saturday 8th July at the Mary Peters Track
in Belfast. Unfortunately a lot of the club’s young athletes were on holiday, leaving a fairly
depleted entry however those who competed for the club put in great performances.
The first event featuring a North Down athlete on the track was the u17 girls’ 100m with Victoria
Ifonlaja finishing 4th in the A race in 14.40, whilst Anna Moran was close behind in 14.42 and
was 2nd in the B race. Next up was the u15 boys’ 1500m, where the busy Ethan Constable
was 3rd in the A race in 5.00.45. In the u17 girls’ 1500, Becka Laffin ran well to come 2nd in the
A race in 5.01.79. Then in the under 13 girls’ 1200m Isla Wiltshire made a competition debut
and came 1st in the A race in 4.24.60, whilst Freya Lowry was 1st in the B race in 4.34.41. The
800m races were next. In the u13 boys Blake Watton and Ethan Wiltshire both made their
competition debuts, with Blake coming 4th in the A race in 2.48.74 and Ethan coming 2nd in
the B race in 2.51.56. In the u17 boys 800m, Chris Belshaw had to compete with senior men
(three of whom clocked under two minutes), meaning the race was very fast. However, Chris
hung in well and ended up 4th in the A race in a time of 2.20.41.
The track action then moved to the 200m. In the u15 girls, Ruby Tolland was 4th in the A race
in a time of 29.97, whilst Anna Todd was 2nd in the B race in 30.05. In the u17 boys, Conor
Adair and Daniel Constable won the A and B race respectively, with times of 24.02 and
24.84.
There was also plenty of field action; in the u17 girls’ discus Tabitha Moran was 2nd in the A
competition with a throw of 17.23m. Whilst in the u15 girls’ event Abbie Irwin was also 2nd in
the A competition with a throw of 17.68m. The Constable brothers were in action in the
long jump. In the u15 event, Ethan was 2nd in the A competition with a jump of 4.43m, whilst
in the u17 event Daniel won the competition with a jump of 5.77m. Finally in the u15 girls’
high jump Abbie Irwin came 2nd in the A competition with a jump of 1.40m. Whilst in the u17
girls’ high jump, Alexia Hughes jumped 1.30m to finish 3rd in the A competition, whilst Anna
Moran was back in action also finishing 3rd in the B competition with a jump of 1.30m.
(Alexia was deemed to have finished in the higher position due to having a better
countback).
The competition finished with the 4 x 100 relay races. Despite the lack of athletes the club
managed to get three teams out for this meeting. In the u15 girls Isla Wiltshire (moving up
an age group), Anna Todd, Ruby Tolland and Abbie Irwin came 3rd in 58.27. In the u17 girls’
race, Becka Laffin, Victoria Ifonlaja and Anna and Tabitha Moran were 2 nd in 56.71, having
been disqualified but then reinstated after a mix-up over lanes. Whilst the u17 boys’ team
of Daniel and Ethan Constable (with Ethan moving up an age group), Conor Adair and Chris
Belshaw was also 2nd in 50.41.
[photo: Conor Adair, Ethan Constable, Daniel Constable, Chris Belshaw]