[Not a valid template]There were lots of successes to report for North Down athletes at a windy Mary Peters Track in the 2006 Northern Ireland and Ulster Senior Championships including a first Senior outdoor title for Amy Foster, pbs and club records for Kim Shaw, Michael Dyer and Jeremy Harper, a Northern Ireland veterans record for Francis Marsh and a throws double for Eva Massey. Amy took the silver medal as last year in a very fast but windy 100m final with 11.69 sec and later won the 200m in 24.21 secs when the wind seemed to have dropped but was probably just over the limit. Eva seems to have put recent setbacks behind her and easily retained her shot and discus titles with a very recent switch to rotational shot looking very promising. In only her second race over 400m, Kim finished 4th and broke Alison Elliott“s North Down record which dates back to the club”s early days.
The men also had a good day and Michael won his first Senior Championship medal with a great 2nd place in the 800m final running 1:52.13 and smashing his pb and his own club record. Francis at 40 is in excellent form and his 4:06.23 in the 1500m was a Northern Ireland veterans record. Jeremy with 13.90m was within a centimetre of his pb with a silver in the shot with a lot more appearing to be there and he won the discus with a new pb and club record of 46.78m. Ian McMullan made it a podium double in the discus with 40.36m for 3rd. Paul Curran was 4th at triple jump with 13.77m. John Saulters and Philip Brownewere testing themselves out after injuries. John finished 3rd in his 400m heat in 50.59 secs and was just happy to be running again after achilles problems. Philip has ankle trouble and he struggled in the long jump with 6.53m for 5th.[Not a valid template]The NIAF 4 x 100m Age Group Relay Championships were also on the programme. There was an easy win for the North Down Junior Girls team while Hannah Lewis anchored the winning Itermediate Girls Bloomfield team.
Results in the Senior Championships other than North Down athletes included a massive new javelin record of 79.55m by Michael Allen of Abbey and a womens hammer record of 50.85m by Rhiannon McNally of Orchard County while Holywood dentist Mark Kirk of Ballymena and Antrim had another Northern Ireland veterans record in the 800m with 1:56.51 min.