Day 1 age-group champs – Matthew, Robbie and Alix shine
Tue 19 June 2012--admin
The final City of Lisburn medal tally after a thrilling two days of action at this year’s U14-U17 N. Ireland and Ulster age-group championships was a very healthy 62, up from 36 on the same weekend last year. The forecast for the weekend had been terrible but as it turned out rain stayed away for most of weekend with the majority of the programme completed in dry conditions.
In addition to the medallists, many more finished in 4th place which has also qualified these athletes for the All-Ireland age-groups in Tullamore next month. Note that while a top 4 finish gives the right to compete in Tullamore, athletes must still enter themselves.
Medallists in the Under 14 and U15 age groups were as follows:-
U14 Boys – 7 medals
Robbie Marrs made a welcome return from injury to star in this age-group. He won the 75m hurdles in style in 12.64s, before later placing 2nd in the 80m sprint. A pleasant surprise however was his impressive display at shot where he won by a metre with 10.91m. Josh Armstrong was a double medallist with hurdles silver and a well deserved high jump bronze with 1.40m.
Louis McGuckian had a great run of 27.33s in the 200m to miss out on the title by only 0.01s but he was delighted with his javelin bronze in 27.47m. Both performances were PBs.
U14 Girls – 5 medals
Just as she did at the Odyssey indoor championships, Alix Galbraith confirmed again that she is one of the best all-round athletes in this age group in N. Ireland. She finished with three individual medals, including her first NI title. The gold came at high jump where she increased her PB by 10cms to win with a fantastic 1.51m PB. She also led the shot until the final round but had to settle for silver with a good 9.49m throw and took a bronze on the track in the 75m hurdles in a race where less than 0.1s covered the medallists.
Therese Hillman as ever ran well over the hurdles, taking a silver in 12.74s ahead of Alix in a great race. Rebekah Douglas ran an excellent 800m PB of 2:26, which won her heat in the time trial system and earned her a championship bronze as 3rd fastest of the day overall.
U15 Boys – 10 medals
Matthew Dalton was City of Lisburn’s only athlete to finish with three golds. He showed off his all round talents by winning titles on track, in a jump and in a throw, a unique achievement by an athlete at these 2012 championships. The 80m hurdles gold came in his first competition over the barriers in a flying 12.08s. He won the shot with a 12.33m effort by 2 metres before rushing to long jump. He hadn’t time to sort out his run up properly but his one valid effort of 5.26m was enough to clinch his 3rd title.
Ben Fisher made a late decision to compete after a few injury problems and gave a good account of himself with silvers at long jump in 5.10m and hurdles in 12.33s. Cameron Kelly made it a Lisburn clean sweep at the hurdles with his 12.46m effort and also was 3rd at shot with 10.24m.
Ciaran Barnes was rewarded for his hard work this year at training with a silver at 200 with a 25.99s run in the final and he is looking forward to his first All-Ireland’s. Tom Baird had a great weekend, running a 2:12 PB at 800m on day 1 and then also coming second on day 2 in the 1500.
U15 Girls – 8 medals
Sarah Woods had one of best performances in the field events in this age group. Her 28.08m throw in the javelin won by 5 metres to give her the N. Ireland title to go with her Ulster Schools title. She earlier took 3rd in the shot with a throw of 8.45m. Lauren Rea has improved well in all her throws this season and won her first NI championship medal here with a great 24.07m PB at discus for silver.
Phoebe Tan won her first NI title when she cleared 1.50m at high jump. Jessica McMaster had a good day, jumping 4.93m for silver at her speciality long jump but also won her first championship track medal with a bronze in the 200m in a 27.29s PB. Sophie Higginson had a good run for bronze in the 800 m in 2:36, with Madison Bowyer battling hard for a well deserved silver at 1500m on day 2.
Report for U16 and U17 events to follow…