Team Trophy / NI relay champs
Mon 23 August 2010--admin
For most of the athletes competing, Saturday’s Team Trophy incorporating the Relay championships at a showery Antrim was the final outing of the season (while for others it was their first appearance on the track for MANY seasons, but more of that later!). And what a finale it proved to be for the Lisburn squad with the Senior Ladies team pushing defending champions North Down all the way in the N. Ireland inter-club championships, and the club securing the Northern Ireland womens 4x400m title in the final race of the afternoon!
As ever the Rose girls were to the fore with many valuable points secured across a range of events on track and field. Libby led off with the first track victory of the day in the 400mH just ahead of sister Sylvia after the girls were level at the final barrier. Libby also took 2nd in the javelin and 3rd in the high jump and 100m (amongst other events). Sylvia was just ahead of her sister when taking 3rd in the triple jump and also secured 5th in the long jump. It wasn’t just the daughters who scored valuable points with (former NI senior champion) mother Annie competing well at discus and shot and also rolling back the years to make a very respectable appearance over one lap on the track. In the 400m she was joined by another former NI champion and Lisburn stalwart Ruth Hill who also competed well at high jump and javelin.
Linzi Herron showed she can mix it with some of the best local shot putters with a very strong performance, producing two 8 metre throws for third place on top of 2nd place with 5.59m in a tight long jump competition. Amanda Mitchell can be relied on for good points and threw very well for 4th in the discus and a great 2nd in the hammer.
Rachel Gibson has been ultra-consistent at around 2m 21s for 800m this year and produced yet another 2:21 run which, guests aside, won her the team competition. She also dropped down for a rare outing over 200m, taking a surprise victory in a 28.37s PB.
After a brave display, with just the relays left it was apparent that North Down had done just enough to defend their trophy ahead of the Lisburn girls. However, there were two great performances left from the ladies in the relays which also doubled as the NI relay champs. Firstly the girls took silver in the 4x100m but saved best until last when the squad of Rachel Gibson, Sylvia, Libby and Annie Rose brought the baton home for a clear victory in the 4x400m. History was possibly made as not often, if ever, will mother have handed on to daughter in this race!
The men have been in the shadow of the ladies this year but in the separate men’s competition, Adam Hill’s 1.70m high jump and 5.26m long jump were very close to his lifetime bests in both events as he finished 4th and 5th respectively – good results against senior opposition. Jonny McWhinney completed his season with a busy afternoon contesting all four throws. Best of these was the javelin where his 37.76m SB left him 2nd in the inter-club event. He also managed a season’s best 31.74m in the discus for 3rd and a 27.33m PB in the hammer for 4th (excluding guests).
So congratulations to the ladies in particular for a performance which when added to their qualification for the All-Ireland Premier final adds up to a good season. Many will take a short break now before starting winter training for next year, where Annie and Ruth will hopefully be back to help the team defend titles and challenge for more honours…!