Matthew shines at Rising Stars Indoors
Tue 7 February 2012--admin
A handful of City of Lisburn AC young athletes were amongst the Belfast “Rising Stars” squad who competed at Cookstown Leisure Centre on Saturday past against the regional squads from Cavan and also the North West.
All these young athletes, aged 12-14 who are participating in this Athletics NI talent development programme competed in a standing long jump, a medicine ball chest push, a sprint and an endurance run. They were aiming not just for individual prizes but also valuable team points.
Matthew Dalton emerged as one of the overall stars of the day, winning medals for placing 1st in the throw overall of the 40 athletes present with 9.75m and coming 3rd in the sprint event. He also missed a medal in the standing long jump by just 1cm. On his overall performance he was ranked an excellent 4th. Ryan Keenan did very well in the sprint, winning his heat and placing 9th overall. He was also 8th in the throw.
Of the girls, Sarah Woods gave a good account of herself despite a heavily strapped right foot. Her highlights included 9th place in the throw and 11th in the sprint. Lucy Smyth also did well, placing 3rd in both her sprint and endurance time trial heats.
Once the cumulative results were tallied and Team Belfast announced as champions, Sarah and Matthew stepped forward to accept the trophy on behalf of their team-mates from event co-ordinator Catherine Crawford of Athletics NI.