Ulster Schools Track and Field – North Down Athletic Club

On Friday 18th & Sat 19th May, the hundreds of athletes from across the province who descended on the Antrim Forum in order to represent their respective schools at the Ulster Schools’ T&F championships were rewarded with dry, sunny conditions. Unfortunately the light breeze directly into the faces of the sprinters and some jumpers did affect times & distances but didn’t prevent a host of North Down AC youngsters from collecting titles and medals across a range of events and age groups.

In the Minis (Y8), Stephanie Bell (Our Lady & St Pats, Knock) set a PB on her way to winning gold in the 100m with a time of 13.92s. Poppy Dann (Glenlola) also set a PB and won gold in the long jump with a best jump of 4.43m and finished 6th in the highly competitive 100m race in 14.52s. All rounder, Niamh Fenlon (Sullivan Upper), set two PBs with a throw of 8.49m to take gold in the shot (2.72kg) & a leap of 4.21m to finish 4th in the long jump.

In the Minors (Y9), Sophie Hoey (Strathearn) won gold, silver & bronze as she finished 1st in the long jump with a PB of 4.66m, 2nd in the 75mH with another PB of 12.28s & 3rd as part of the Strathearn 4x100m relay team. Lexx McConville (Lurgan Junior HS) took gold in the 75mH in a new PB of 12.02s & bronze in the high jump with 1.55m while Flynn Longstaff (Campbell College) won silver in the shot (3kg) with a best throw of 11.08m.

(Photo courtesy of Charles Beaumont)

The only medalist in the Juniors (Y9) was Rose McGreevy (Glenlola) who won individual bronze in the 75mH in a new PB of 12.33s and gold as part of the Glenlola 4x100m relay team.

The Inters (Y10 & 11) was the club’s most successful age category, producing 5 medalists. Louise Canning (Glenlola) won bronze in the 100m in 13.21s & gold in the 4x100m relay while Rachel McCann (Sullivan Upper) continued her form of last year, comfortably winning the 300m by over 1.5sec in 41.30s. Faye Nixon (Bloomfield Collegiate) suffered a rare defeat in the shot putt (3kg), however it did take a new record performance to do so and she still took silver with a best effort of 11.65m. Amy Kimber(Sullivan Upper), rather unusually threw exactly the same distance of 27.97m to take bronze in both the discus (1kg) & javelin (500g) while our only male medalist was Troy McConville (Craigavon Senior HS), who, despite struggling with a foot injury, secured two bronze medals in the 100mH & HJ with performances of 14.35s & 1.80m respectively.

(Photo courtesy of Charles Beaumont)

In the Seniors (Y13 & 14) Molly Longstaff (Strathearn) proved that perseverance does pay off as she secured her first Ulster Schools’ sprint medal when holding off a late challenge to secure bronze in the 100m with a time of 13.46s which was followed by a silver in the 4x100m relay. Rio Catney (BRA) doubled-up over the 1500m & 3000m and was our only distance medalist. On Friday evening, she ran 11:02.94 to take silver in the 3000m and returned on Saturday to set a new PB and take bronze in the 1500m with a time of 5:04.56. For the fifth consecutive year, Aaron Sexton (Bangor Grammar) completed a comfortable sprint double, winning the 100m in 10.86s & the 200m in 21.99s and later lead off the BGS 4x100m relay team that finished second. Isaac Hart (Sullivan Upper) took bronze in the 200m in 23.77s & finished 4th in the long jump with 5.74m