NI Multi-Events Day 2 – 29 Aug
Mon 30 August 2010--admin
Day 2 – Sunday 29 August
Conditions were much improved, with sunshine most of the day although the customary gale was still blowing down the home straight with hurdlers and long jumpers taking full advantage. On a memorable day for the City of Lisburn athletes and supporters, no less than 3 titles and 7 medals were secured to add to Ben Fisher’s silver from Day 1.
Adam Hill started the day with a 5.57m PB long jump, and after the discus and javelin with just the 1500m to go was in 4th place. Despite a big PB of 5m 34secs unfortunately his performance in his final event of the weekend wasn’t quite enough to take him into the medals and he had to settle for a very respectable 4th place overall.
Libby Rose started day 2 with a big lead in the U17 heptathlon and extended it straight away with a 5.01m long jump PB. A 22m javelin was good in difficult throwing conditions and despite the comfort of a very large lead pushed herself to 2m 53 secs in the 800m for an overall win with a 3754 point PB and victory by 1000 pts! This exceptional performance also ranks her very highly in UK terms.
There was a 1-2 for Lisburn in the U20 heptathlon where Karyn Dumigan took gold ahead of club-mate Sarah McIlmoyle who secured silver. Karyn’s highlight on day 2 included a good 5.10m long jump while Sarah took good points in the javelin, but ultimately Karyn’s overall performances gave her the title of N. Ireland junior heptathlon champion!
Lisburn’s U15 girls’ squad includes some of Ulster and indeed Ireland’s best individual athletes and the coaches were quietly confident of medals being secured in the 5 event pentathlon for this age-group. However, nobody could have foreseen the situation where with just the final 800m event left, Lisburn girls occupied the first 5 places! The times in this race would confirm the finishing positions and medal winners. Ultimately, Anna McIlmoyle took gold and the title where her strength across all 5 events (including big PBs in the long jump and particularly the shot) left her a very worthy winner.
Hurdles specialist Jane Atkinson took silver thanks to another great all-round display, including PBs in the both long and high jumps (1.54m) and also the shot. Aoibhin McManus was not in a medal position before the last event despite a huge 5.19m long jump PB earlier in the day but gave it everything to win the race in a gutsy 2m 43s which was enough to secure bronze. Erin Quinn in 4th also did superbly, with PBs in long jump and a great 7.44m shot, while Kathryn Case who was in a medal position until the final event should also take pride in her overall performance which included PB’s at hurdles and long jump.
The U13 girls pentathlon saw a great turn-out for City of Lisburn with 8 athletes competing amongst the large field of 17. An enjoyable competition saw too many individual PB’s to mention, but every girl did themselves, their parents and their coaches proud. There were particularly good performances from Natalja Ritchie who bravely produced a great shot of 7.22m shortly after an injury at the long jump while Zoe Crothers and Madison Bowyer amongst others ran heroically in the 800m to finish just outside the medals. However, overall it was Katie Larmour who was our star performer in this age group, taking the silver medal behind only a top class performance from an England-based athlete. Over the opening hurdles, Katie stormed to a great 13.1sec PB and never looked back with her consistency across the 5 disciplines giving her a well deserved second place.
A total of 8 medals secured over the two days meant Lisburn finished as the most successful club in attendance and more importantly confirms that we have a very talented squad of young athletes, of which every single one deserved a medal after a hard but rewarding weekend. With talent like this coming through, the future of the club looks bright!