Medals galore at Ulster Indoor Champs
Over twenty of North Down AC’s juvenile athletes made the trip to a chilly Meadowbank Arena in Magherafelt to compete in the NI & Ulster Indoor Age Group Championships on Saturday & Sunday and with qualification for the Irish Indoor Championships at Athlone in March up for grabs, competition was fierce.
We had a number of athletes in the U12-14 age groups with most competing in several events, however, our only medallist was Andrew Brown in the U12 high jump where he cleared 1.10m to win bronze.
In the U15s Faye Nixon threw 9.37m to set a new PB in the shot putt and take an emphatic gold while Murphy Miller continued her middle distance dominance with a convincing win at 800m in 2:26.82.
Isaac Hart, competing in his first event for North Down, was the only representative in the U16 age group and lead the 200m coming off the bend but was overhauled in the last 20m, finishing in 24.68s and earning an excellent silver medal.
The only medallist in the U17s was Molly Longstaff who set a new indoor PB of 4.49m to take bronze in the long jump.
There was further success in the U18 & U19 age groups, however, the lack of athletes taking part in some events was rather disappointing to see.
One such event was the U18 girls 300m where Holly Brannigan & Beth Crosbie were the only competitors, however, it didn’t stop both from setting PBs with Holly taking gold in 43.47 and Beth taking silver in 47.12. Beth set another PB in the shot with a putt of 7.56m earning her a bronze medal while on the boys side Ollie Wakefield jumped 5.96m to win gold in the U18 long jump.
Disappointingly Reece Simpson was the only competitor in the U19 800m and so was only required to run a modest 2:17.10 in order qualify for the Irish championships.
Olivia Cumming finished 3rd in the U19 400m (time unknown) while Saskia Greer ran 8.66 in the 60m to win bronze.
All-in-all a successful championship for NDAC. It was great to see so many of our athletes qualify for the Irish championships and to see so many of our younger athletes taking part and gaining experience for future competitions.
Full results:
http://www.athleticsni.org/Results/NI-Ulster-Indoor-Age-Group-T-&-F-Championships
There was a representation of North Down at the scenic Antrim Castle Gardens for the penultimate race in the Born 2 run “Run Forest Run” winter series. Catherine Roberts was first in over the 10K course followed by Keith Gilmore, Helen Byers and Tracey Hodgson.
http://sport.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/marathon/antrimcastle10k
Roller Coaster Downpatrick Race Course
East Down AC held their annual Roller Coaster races around the Downpatrick Horse Racing track on Saturday. While non of our senior athletes were present our younger stars made their presence felt. In the P7 race Hollie Massey finished 3rd continuing her quality running after last week’s Cultra run. In the U13 category Megan Briggs finished 2nd, a mere 2 seconds behind the winner and Adam Skelly finished in an excellent 4th. Ella Kerr ran well to finish 11th overall.
GloHealth Indoor Games at Athlone
The club had success at the AAI Games on Sunday with Jessica Craig claiming 3rd place in the 1500M, Laura Saulters 2nd in the Triple Jump and Alan Kennedy winning the mens Triple Jump.
http://www.athleticsirelandenterprises.com/results_07022016/schedule.html
http://www.athleticsireland.ie/news/foster-fastest-at-glohealth-indoor-games