Caitlyn Dickenson – Tailteann Games

Another action packed week of club action began with the Lisburn 10k and half marathon on Wednesday evening. Kevin Harkin was North Down AC’s first finisher in the 10k in 31st place in 37:43 followed by Christopher Ballentine 41:08, Nicholas Arkensparr 41:33, Graham Massey 54:12 and Nicole Bell 1:02:34. Matt Ormesher led the club’s half marathoners back to the finish line in 1:45:46 with Paul Curran 1:57:39, Emma Hegarty 2:02;45 and Michael Stevenson 2:04:31 also completing the 13.1 mile loop. 

The fourth of Lagan Valley AC’s Super 6 series took place on Thursday evening at the Mary Peters track in Belfast. A large number of club members took part and there were some great performances by North Down AC athletes despite the persistent rain.
In the u10 girls’ long jump, Willow Cram picked up the gold medal with a jump of 3.08m.
In the closely fought u12 boys’ 600m, Harrison Mair was 2nd in 1:49.26, Daly Seaton was 3rd in 1.50.23 and younger brother Casey Seaton was 4th in 1:50.92.
In the u12 girls’ 600m, Isla Little was 16th in 2:11.64. Isla also competed in the long jump, finishing 9th with a jump of 2.74m.
In the u14 boys’ 800m, Robin Anderson was 10th in 2:32.70 and Eric Pinkett was 14th in 2:36.90, Lewis Johnston 16th in 2:44.36 and Woodie Cram 20th in 2:54.52.

In the u14 girls’ 800m Rose Reavy was 15th in 2:44.43.

In the under 16 boys’ 800m it was a gold medal for Seb Mair, who finished in 2:14.38. Isaac Hall also competed, finishing 6th in 2:23.00. In the u16 girls’ 800m, Catherine McBrinn won race 1 in 2:22.06 (4th fastest overall), whilst Caitlyn Dickenson warmed up for her inter provincial competition this weekend with a 2:28.84 PB (4th in race 1). Also running were Lara Cheatley, who clocked a 2:31.37 PB (8th in race 2), Eve Sloan, who ran 2:36.31 (7th in race 1), and Jessica Liddle, who was 29th overall in 3:13.91. Jessica also competed in the shot put, where she finished 2nd
with a throw of 7.13m.
In the u18 boys’ shot put, it was 1st and 2nd place respectively for Jason Smith (throw of 12.30m) and Dominik Lipowski (10.28m). Dominik also picked up a silver medal in the triple jump, clearing 10.62m.

It was another 1st place for Emma Reid in the U18 girl’s shot , who threw 10.88m. Once again, Emma’s throw was further than any of the senior women.
Harry Jackson picked up a silver medal in the senior men’s triple jump with a PB of 12.74m.

In the 800m, Malte Kunze was 6th in 2:07.18 and John Ewing was 7th in 2:12.57.

The third and final Primary Schools Mini Meeting of the season took place on  Wednesday evening at the Bangor Sportsplex. The weather was mild with  occasional bursts of sunshine. Following an energetic warm up that was again led by series sponsor, Active Youth NI, more than 160 young athletes from the local area and beyond were ready to get going, with some great performances from North Down AC athletes.
In the P5 Girls, Mary Cait McClean (St. Comgall’s PS) earned her third sprint gold medal of these Mini Meets in the 80m race, with a time of 12.8 seconds. Esmée Blanc (Ballyholme PS) was making her debut in the series, and finished 4th in her heat in a time of 14.7. Esmée then toed the line in the longer 400m event and was narrowly pipped at the finish to place just outside the medal positions in 4th, with a time of 1:27.0. Mary Cait picked up her second medal of the evening in the sand pit, clearing 2.77m to finish 2nd in the long jump, before going on to win another silver medal in the shot put, with a throw of 3.98m. Esmée also took part in the long jump, clearing a very impressive 2.34m and rounded off her evening in the shot put event, throwing 2.63m.
In the P5 Boys section, Casey Seaton (Glencraig PS) ran the 2nd fastest time in the 80m with a run of 12.0 seconds. Also competing in this event were Cillian Armstrong (Killinchy PS), who finished in 12.5, Jodi Tomalin (Ballyholme PS, 14.0) and Joshua Beckett (Crawfordsburn PS, 14.6). In the 400m, it was a commanding win for Casey who finished in 1:12.0. Harry Jennings (Crawfordsburn PS) had the 3rd fastest time of the evening (1.18.4) with Cillian finishing just outside the medals in 1:18.6 and Jodi finishing in 1:23.0. In the long jump, Harry finished 4th (3.17m), with Casey 5th (3.15m), Cillian 6th (3.14m), Jodi 9th (2.75m) and Joshua 11th (2.62m). Joshua was back in action in the shot put, winning the event again with a throw of 5.0m.
In the P6 Girls section, Priya Ferguson (Ballyholme PS) claimed the bronze medal in the 80m sprint with a time of 12.4 seconds. Emma Strawbridge (Grange Park PS) ran a quick 13.0 seconds, with Isla Little (St. Comgall’s PS, 13.4) and Sara Donegal (Ballyholme PS, 14.7) also competing. In the 400m event, Emma won her heat and finished 2nd overall in 1:18.4, with Isla finishing in 1:20.6 and Priya in 1:22.6. All four girls took part  in the long jump – Isla finished in 5th place with a jump of 2.89m, Priya 7th (2.86m), Emma 16th (2.32m) and Sara was 24th (1.89m) and 
in the shot put, Sara finished in 11th place with a fine throw of 3.92m. Harry Carson (Ballymagee PS) completed the 80m in 13.5, 400m in 1:24.9 and cleared 1.86m in the long jump.

The P6 Boys section had a large contingent of North Down AC athletes involved. In the 80m sprint, Noah Parker (Kilmaine PS) won his heat in a quick time of 12.1. Finn Campbell (Ballyholme PS) finished in 12.3 seconds, whilst Finn McCullough (Ballyholme PS) and Thomas Close (St Comgall’s PS) couldn’t be separated – both
finishing in 12.7. Fox Neill (St Comgall’s PS) covered the distance in 13.2, Ezra Blanc (Ballyholme PS) ran a personal best of 13.9, and Rory McDonald (Rockport) made his series debut (16.0). In the 400m event, Finn McCullough fought hard to finish 2nd in 1.09.7. Fox finished in 1.15.3, Thomas ran in 1.20.1, and Noah in 1.24.9. In the long jump, Finn Campbell took the silver medal with a jump of 3.26m. Also jumping were Finn McCullough (8th, 3.14m), Ezra (13th, 3.06m), Fox (14th, 2.77m), Thomas (17th, 2.71m) and Noah with a jump of 2.56m. In the shot put, Finn Campbell took 4th place with a throw of 4.83m and Fox, in his first attempt at this event, was 7th sending the shot 4.51m down the throwing circle.

In the P7 girls Emily Allen (Grange PS) ran the 100m in 15.5 with Holly Shields (Ballyholme PS) finishing in 16.1, Jessica Hamilton (Bangor Central Integrated PS) in 16.7 and Emily Jordan (Towerview PS) in 18.5. In the longer 600m race Emily was 4th in 2:10.07, Jessica was 7th in 2:26.7 and Emily was 11th in 2:39.9. Emily’s jump of 3.66m secured a win in the long jump. Holly was 7th (3.2m,) Emily 9th (2.75m) and Jessica 17th (2.29m.) Emily also took part in the shot put finishing 5th with a throw of 4.93m. Holly (4.02m) was 10th and Emily (3.93m) was 11th.

In the P7 boys Daly Seaton (Glencraig PS) won bronze in the 100m with a run of 14.5 seconds. Harrison Mair (St. Comgall’s PS) 14.7, Woodie Cram (Ballyholme PS) 15.2, Mason McPeake (Kilmaine PS) 16.7 and Jake Yarnall (Ballymagee PS) 17.5 also raced. In the 600m Daly (1:48.5) overtook Harrison 1:50.7 to win. Woodie was 5th in 2:05.9, Jake was 6th in 2:07 and Mason came 8th in 2:13.4. In the long jump Dominic McClean (St. Comgall’s PS) finished 5th jumping 3.55m. Daly was 6th with 3.54m, Woodie 8th 3.21m, Mason 10th 3.19m and Jake 16th 2.16m. Dominic rounded off an excellent evening by winning gold in the shot put with a throw of 6.56m.

This meet also featured events for athletes with learning or physical disabilities. Joni and Lisa from Active Youth NI and a NDAC coach took the children through a series of games and challenges before taking to the track for a short race after which they were presented with their medals by Olympian Rachel McCann who once again kindly took time out to help at the event.

Thanks are once again due to the organiser of this series, Steven Donegan, and all club members who helped out at these events, and to Active Youth NI for their support.

The penultimate Hill & Dale race of the series, Cock and Hen saw another good turnout of North Down’s mountain runners, with some of them securing strong positions on the age group leaderboards ahead of next week’s finale at Drinahilly. First of the club’s athletes back to the base of Hen Mountain on a mild, windy Thursday evening was Gareth Hardy 42:02. Abby Andrews 46:26, Jeremy Tomalin 49:00, Clair Quigley 50:01 and Lisa Tomalin 50:10 were followed by Luke Hamilton 51:36, Kevin Mulligan 55:07, June McMinn 57:09, Fiona McQuillan 58:05, Donald Smith 1:03:20 and John McGarvey 1:14:57.

North Down AC was well represented at the Comber 10k on Friday evening; Kyle McLellan was the first of the club’s finishers on the 2 lap course around the town in 14th place in 35:44 and Ricky Jordan was 15th in 35:48. Katie Moore won the women’s race in 36:00, finishing 18th overall and Francis Marsh was 1st M60 in 24th in 36:49. Other NDAC finishers were Jason McMinn 37:51, Alasdair Mair 38:06, Nick Irvine 38:25 and David Massey 38:56. Simon Boyle was 2nd M60 in 39:02 in his first race of the weekend, ahead of Dean Willis 39:11, Chris Couchman 39:23, Tom Agnew 41:16, Paul Carson 41:46 and Andrew Strutt 41:48. Mitchell Brown was 1st M55 in 42:04 followed by Keith Gilmore 43:05, Simon Robinson 44:16, Jeremy Tomalin 44:29, Sarah Wilson 45:35 and Allister Patton 45:49. Heather Beattie was 2nd F40 in 46:40 with Paul Lynas 46:53, Jamie Andrews 47:03 and 2nd F55 Abby Andrews crossing the line in 47L04. Marion Beattie 48:09, Michael Barr 48:41, Joanne Cummings 51:09, Sandra Hall 51:29, Graham Massey 51:59 and Christina Hannah 52:17. It was a course PB for Beth Mulree in 52:25 on her first 10k of the weekend with Mick Hall 52:50, Stefan Butler 53:36, Dave Press 53:52, Jenny Keery 53:52 and Emma Hegarty 54:15 close behind. Gabrielle Logan-Hermon 55:41, Nicola Stevenson 55:42, Andrew Gibson 56:06 were followed by 1st F70, Valerie Blayney 57:21, Caroline Gilmore 57:34, John Thompson 57:35, Klara Anderson 58:41, Liesl Parker 59:01, Jill Eager 59:17 and Simon Brown 59:36. Julie McCready 1:00:48, Ian McCreary 1:01:03, Jennifer Brook 1:02:52, Glen Frazer 1:03:16, Sarah Loughridge 1:04:45 and Pat O’Driscoll 1:09:56 completed the strong North Down turnout.

North Down AC’s Sarah Connolly claimed 3rd female place at the Citibank 5k in the Titanic Quarter on Friday evening, just 5 seconds ahead of clubmate, Lois Harkin who was 4th.

The Tailteann Schools Interprovincial Championships were held in Carlow on Saturday. Emma Reid, representing Ulster, won a bronze medal in the Inter Girls Discus and came 6th in the Inter Girls shot put.

Caitlyn Dickenson was 10th in the 3000m in 11:43.38.

At the Irish Life 5 Mile Championships in Phoenix Park on Saturday Simon Boyle ran 31:43, taking the bronze medal in the M60 category.

Neil Mearns and Mark Walker were running for Team Ireland at the Last One Standing event in Florence Court. The race  started at noon on Saturday with runners having 1 hour to complete the 4.2 mile loop through the beautiful estate grounds before lining up and going again on the hour, every hour until only one runner is left. Neil completed 24 hours for 100 miles and Mark competed over 116 miles in 28 hours.  The race didn’t end until 6am on Tuesday morning when following the retirement of Scotland’s Ian Bethune, Peter Cromie of Northern Ireland completed a solo 65th lap, over 270 miles!

Gareth Hardy was back in the mountains on Sunday, this time on the other side of Carlingford Lough at the Flagstaff to Carlingford Mountain Race in the Cooley Mountains between Flagstaff and Mountain and Slieve Foy, He finished the 11 mile race in 26th place in 2:29:51. 

Some of North Down’s female runners headed for the Titanic Quarter on Sunday for the Belfast City Womens’ 10k. Jill Connolly was the club’s first finisher in 46:52 with Susan Black 47:34, Beth Mulree 51:56, Nicole Downey 53:55, Nicola Stevenson 57:52, Emma Hegarty 58:50, Selina Patchett 1:01:39 and Judith Gillespie finishing in 1:02:02. Adrienne Neill completed her 70 minute racing duties perfectly, leading runners across the line in 1:09:39.

Maia Johnston finished 51st in the u18 International Mountain running cup in the scorching Italian heat today and was 3rd scorer for NI&Ulster team.