Club President, Tony Wall, presided over the 2019 track and field awards last Friday evening, with many fine performances acknowledged by the presentation of trophies and an abundance of cake!
Whilst not all trophy winners were able to be present on the evening a short synopsis of their achievements was delivered and is recorded below:-
Fundamentals Shield – Anna Moran
Competed at all three primary school events as well as all three rounds of the NI Club league.
2nd in the P6 long jump at the final PS meeting, 3rd in the long jump in the first and middle competition; 1st in the 600m in the first competition and 3rd in the 600 in the middle competition; and 3rd in the 80m in the first completion. Therefore she won medals at every competition in three different events.
In the NI Club league she competed in the first round in the 75m and long jump (3rd in the B), in the 2nd round she competed in the 75m.
She was a late draft for the final, but was still part of a team that won a bronze NI & Ulster relay medal. Also getting a 3rd place in the B 150m and B long jump.
Primary Girls Trophy – Zoe Kirk
1st in the P7 600m in the middle PS competition, 4th in the final 600m P7 race
3rd in the 800m of the first NI Club League, 1st in the B 1200 in the second round, and 2nd in the B 1200m in the final. She also took part in the NI & Ulster 4 x 100, finishing in the 4th placed team.
U13 Girls Trophy – Kate Fenlon
Kate has had a fine season with her throws, being undefeated in her age-group in Ireland at shot and breaking the Ulster Schools record in May and YDL record at the final in August. She was consistently over 10 metres and ranks no 2 in UK in addition to her Irish indoor and outdoor titles. She also enjoyed success at discus, breaking the YDL record in Rd 2 in May and at javelin where she won the NI and Ulster title in June. Kate has worked hard at her all round athleticism this year and placed 2nd in the A Hurdles at the YDL final plus ran 3rd leg in the relay team which placed 3rd at the final. She also completed her first pentathlon recently, placing 7th at the NI multi event champs.
U15 Girls – O’Boyle Accounting Cup – Niamh Fenlon
Niamh has had an outstanding 2019, with five All-Ireland track and field medals plus an Ulster Schools record amongst the many highlights. In January she placed 2nd in the Irish indoors pentathlon, a position she repeated at the Irish outdoors in June. In March she placed 2nd in the Irish u15 indoor long jump in Athlone. At the Ulster Schools in May she won both 100m and long jump, breaking the 100m record with 12.93s. In June she placed 3rd in the Irish Schools 100m with a superb 12.79s and then in July took bronze at 250m Hurdles at the All-Irelands. In August she deservedly gained selection to represent the Northern Ireland and Ulster Team at the AAA Combined Events championships. This is on top of her NI Club league appearances, where she competed in every round winning the 800m and part of the winning relay team in round 1 (along with coming 2nd in the hurdles), winning the 200m and high jump and B javelin in round 2 (also part of the winning relay team) and with an injured hamstring in the final winning the discus, javelin and B shot.
U17 Girls (Daphne Hamill Shield) – Rose McGreevy
Rose McGreevy – although primarily a sprinter/hurdler, Rose has always been a good all-round athlete and it was in the high jump that she achieved her greatest success this season. She took silver in the Inter Girls high jump at the Ulster Schools with a new lifetime best clearance of 1.48m and at the Irish Schools she further improved to 1.55m which earned her the bronze medal on countback. As a result of these performances, she was selected for the Ulster Schools Interprovincial team at the Tailteann Games. In the hurdles, despite dipping under 12sec for the first time at the Ulster Schools, she narrowly missed qualifying for Irish schools when securing bronze in the 80mh. 1st in the 80m hurdles and 3rd in the 100m and 4 x 100 in the first round of the NI Club League, 1st in the high jump, 1st 100m B and part of a team that came 2nd in the 4 x 100 relay in the 2ndround. In the final she was 1st in the 80mh and long jump, 3rd in the 100m and part of a team that came 2nd in the 4 x 100 NI & Ulster relay championships.
U20 Ladies Trophy – Rachel McCann
Rachel McCann – Rachel started her season with bronze at the Irish U20 Indoors followed by 200m & 400m gold at the NI U20 Indoors & 400m silver at the Irish U19 Indoors. She began the outdoor season with the schools competitions where she emphatically won the Senior Girls 200m at Ulster Schools and took silver in the 400m behind the Irish Junior record holder which led to 200m silver at Irish Schools and 400m silver again behind a new championship record. At the Irish U20 Championships, she won the 400m and only narrowly missed individual selection for the European U20 Championships but did go as a member of the relay team. In Sweden she ran the second fastest split and anchored the 4x400m relay to 5th place in the final with a new Irish Junior record. She completed a long season by competing for the NI team at the Manchester International.
Open Ladies – O’Neill Cup – Rachel Gibson
Gold NI & Ulster senior 1500m, 5th in the Irish Senior 1500m champs, 5th in the Irish Senior Indoor champs over 3000m. Set PBs at 1500 (4:23 club record) and 3000m, taking 20seconds off her 3000m PB at the Belfast International with 9:33, which was narrowly outside the long standing club record.
Veteran Ladies – Roy & Lynn Kerr Cup – No Award
Outstanding Female – NDAC Shield – Rachel McCann
Fundamentals Shield – Alex Downey
1st in the P5 600m in the first and final PS competition. 2nd in the middle completion. Also took part in the sprints, long jump at these events, and was 1st in the short putt in the final competition.
Primary Boys Trophy – Seb Holley
Has competed at primary school meetings, club open meetings, the NI Club League and the NI and Ulster multi-events competition. 1stin the javelin at the 1st PS competition, 3rd in the 600m and also took part in the sprint. 2nd in the shot putt and discus in the 2nd round of the NI Club League. In the final he was 2nd in the shot, and 1st in the B 1500m. At the recent multi-events competition he got a PB in the 800 and was just beaten into 2nd in the Shot Putt, finishing 6th overall.
U13 Boys Trophy – Daniel Constable
2nd in the 75m hurdles, 3rd in the 100m first NI Club League
3rd in the 100, 2nd in the 200 and long jump in the 2nd round
In the final he was 2nd in the long jump and part of the 4 x 100 team that won a NI & Ulster 4 x 100 medal as well as coming 1st in the 200m B race. All of this with a suspected broken toe.
U15 Boys Cup – Flynn Longstaff
Won Ulster Schools Shot and Javelin
2nd in both Shot and Javelin at NI & Ulster age groups
Competed in all three NI Club League fixtures winning his throws each time.
U17 Boys – Brannigan Cup – No Award
U20 Men Trophy – Aaron Sexton
Aaron only competed a handful of times this season, but produced some quality performances in those few races. He maintained his unbeaten record at Ulster Schools, completing the sprint double for the 6th consecutive year and breaking the Senior Boys 100m & 200m records set in 1984 in the process. At Irish Schools he completed the 100/200m double for the 5th consecutive year, again breaking the record for both. His 200m time of 20.69s was not just a new NI Junior record but was also a new Irish Junior record and placed him top of the 2019 European U20 rankings and =10th in the World rankings. As a result of this, he went into the European U20 Championships as a firm medal contender for the 200m but after comfortably winning his heat & semi-final, had to be content with 4th place in the final.
Open Men – Hamill Cup – Craig McMeechan
Silver in the NI & Ulster senior men’s 1500m champs, Bronze in the Irish University indoor champs over 1500m. Also took part in a number of the club’s open meetings, winning the senior 800 in the final one.
Veteran Men – Challenge Trophy – Francis Marsh
Competes regularly in the club’s open meetings and Firmus meetings, most recently coming 6th in the open 1500m. Also this year he was first in the 800 metres at the NI & Ulster Masters Championships, also coming 2nd in the 400. He also competed in the Irish Milers competition where he got a SB of 4.26. Earlier in the year he was 1st in the 3000m at the Irish indoor championships and then 6th at the World indoor championships in Poland. He is currently ranked 4th in the UK for 3000m, 6th for the 1500 and 20thfor the 800.
Outstanding Male – Weir Trophy – Aaron Sexton
Throwing – Moffitt Cup – Kate Fenlon
Jumps – Claire Scarth Trophy – Troy McConville
Troy’s jumps for 2019 are high jump – 1.94, long jump – 6.95 and pole vault – 4.17. All of which rank him first in NI U20 and top 3 Ireland U20. His decathlon score from last weekend ranks him first in Ireland and 5th in the UK U20, despite having another 2 years left at U20. Last weekend he won the junior men’s decathlon at the NI & Ulster multi-events competition with 6788 points; this was 2131 points higher than the second placed athlete. He has also competed in a wide number of competitions including the club’s open meetings.
Weglarz Trophies
Bryanna Catney
2nd in the 1500 in the first round of the NI Club League also took part in the 4 x 100 relay helping the club finish 3rd, 3rd in the 800m in the 2nd round, also took part in the 4 x 100 relay helping the club finish 2nd, in the final she was in the 2nd in the 800 and 2nd in the 1500 B and for the second year running was part of the winning NI & Ulster 4 x 300 team.
She was also 4th in the NI & Ulster indoor U 18 800m champs, 5th in the NI & Ulster outdoor 800m champs and set PBs at 800m and 1500m.
In total she raced 17 times outdoors and 4 times indoors this season, excluding relays.
Naomi Dunne
Competed in the first NI Club League in the 1200m, coming 2nd in the B race, in the second round she took part in the shot putt (3rd in the B), In the final she competed in the 800m (1st in the B) and 75mh (2nd in the B) She also took part in the NI & Ulster 4 x 100, finishing in the 4th placed team.
Beth Hammond
Won Ulster indoors age groups and 2nd Irish indoor age groups in Shot
2nd Ulster Schools and 3rd Irish schools in Shot
Won NI & Ulster age groups, 3rd Irish age groups both in Shot
3rd Ulster schools in Hammer
Has broken club U15 3kg Shot record
Competed in all three NI Club League fixtures winning her throws each time.
Hannah Lawden
Has competed for the club in so many events. Indoors 60, 60H, LJ,HJ and Shot. Outdoors 100,70H, HJ, LJ, Shot, Discus and Javelin. With each event this season Hannah has been the smallest girl in the field.
1st NI & Ulster age groups Javelin
=3rd HJ NI & Ulster indoor age groups.
Hannah has also competed in all three NI Club League fixtures
Jude Moran
Took part in the Hammer (1st) 1500m and long jump (2nd in the B) in the first round of the NI Club league and in the final he was 1st in the B hammer, also taking part in the javelin (2nd in the B) and 800m. He was also part of a team that came 3rd in the NI & Ulster 4 x 100 relay championships.
Presidents Trophy – Aaron Sexton