Weekend Round Up of AAI National League and more
21 August 2017
Local athletes were in good form as Northern Ireland based clubs City of Lisburn AC and Lagan Valley AC made their mark on the AAI National League final fixture at Tullamore this weekend (Sunday 20th August 2017).
There were also impressive outings by familiar faces at the Scottish Age Group Championships, British Athletics Premier League and the final British Milers Club (BMC) fixture of the season. There was also plenty of local action over what was another busy weekend.
AAI National League:
Both City of Lisburn AC and Lagan Valley AC were competing in Division 1 of the League – City of Lisburn AC claimed 4th place in both the male and female team standings, while Lagan Valley AC finished in 8th place in the ladies standings.
European Masters 800m silver medallist Kelly Neely claimed maximum points for City of Lisburn AC when she clocked 2:13.95 for victory over 800m. Kelly’s club mates Christian Robinson, Tom Baird, Ellie McCartney and Mark Burton also notched up full marks with wins in their respective events. Christian won the 200m in 22.16 (+1.8), then took 2nd place in the 100m, running 10.95 (+1.4). Tom won the 1500m in 4:23.89, while Ellie led the way in the Pole Vault competition with 3.30m. Mark Burton won the Triple Jump with a 13.94m effort – he followed this up with a 3rd place finish in the ‘Weight for Distance (56lbs)’ competition with 4.78m. The City of Lisburn AC 4x100m relay team, which included Christian Robinson, Mark Burton and Jonny Hill secured 1st place in 44.09.
Local men Adam McMullen, Andrew Mellon and Jason Harvey were also in action for their team, Crusaders AC, in the Premier League competition. All three assisted with valuable points which saw their side take 2nd place in the team standings. Adam excelled in his favourite Long Jump competition, winning comfortably. Andrew Mellon broke the beam first in the 400m, running 49.97 for the distance – he then took 3rd place in the 200m with a time of 22.38 (-0.1). Both Adam and Andrew represented the Crusaders 4x100m relay team who secured 2nd place in 43.41. Andrew then joined Jason Harvey in the Crusaders AC 4x400m relay team, who were victorious in 3:24.15 – Jason also won the 400m hurdles.
There were further podium places for City of Lisburn AC’s Ciaran Barnes and Maeve Lavery in the 400m hurdles and 1500m respectively. Ciaran clocked 56.89 over the 400m hurdles, while Maeve recorded 4:49.90 for 1500m. Maeve also joined Kelly Neely, Rebecca Harvey and Zoe Carruthers in the City of Lisburn AC 4x400m relay team – the quartet claimed 2ndplace in 4:13.33. Erin Fisher (City of Lisburn AC) claimed two 3rd place finishes, in the High Jump and the Long Jump. Erin reached 1.50m in the High Jump and leaped to 4.92m (+2.9) in the Long Jump.
In the Pole Vault, Alex Livingstone (City of Lisburn AC) reached 3.80m which was enough to take 3rd place, while in the Discus (1kg), Lagan Valley AC’s Sarah McGlynn landed a 27.44m effort for 3rd place. Full results for the event are available here: http://live.athleticsireland.ie/menu.html
British Athletics Premier League:
Northern Ireland’s Leon Reid helped his Birchfield Harriers team to victory in the British Athletics Premier League competition this weekend (Sunday 20th August 2017). The Commonwealth Games star, who has enjoyed an excellent season, took 2nd place in both the 100m and 200m. In the 100m, Leon clocked 10.71 (-1.9) and in the 200m, he crossed the line in 21.38 (-1.7). Leon then helped the Birchfield Harriers 4x100m relay team to victory in 41.06. Full results for the event are available here: http://www.thepowerof10.info/resultsfiles/2017/200490_6002_21082017063240_BAL_2017_PREM_M4%20(1).pdf
Scottish Athletics Age Group Championships:
Several local athletes were in action at the Scottish Athletics Age Group Championships (Saturday 19th and Sunday 20th August 2017). Arguably the highlight from a local perspective, was the performance of young Ballymena & Antrim AC athlete Shane Martin. Shane won the Under 20 Pole Vault, equalling his current personal best of 4.40m. Provisional results for the event are available here: http://www.janetnixon.info/scottish/2017/Age/index.htm
British Milers Club (Stretford) Grand Prix:
Jonathan McKee (Springwell Running Club) claimed a personal best and Chris Madden (City of Lisburn AC) clocked a season’s best as local athletes took on the final BMC fixture of the season. Jonathan narrowly missed a sub-4 minute finish over 1500m, when he recorded 4:00.52 - Jonathan Whan (City of Lisburn AC) ran 4:02.19 over the same distance. The always improving Chris Madden clocked a season’s best of 8:33.45 for 3,000m. Conor Duffy (Glaslough Harriers) was also in competition over 3,000m; he ran 8:31.01.
Closer to home…
This weekend also saw the latest round of the Northern Ireland Mountain Running Association (NIMRA) Championship, the Slieve Bearnagh Mountain Race take place (Saturday 19th August 2017). The course covered 3.9 miles in distance and incorporated 2,680ft of ascent and both the male and female races were hotly contested – in the end, David Hicks (Newcastle AC) sealed top honours in 47:23, while Diane Wilson won the ladies race in 54:42.
Belfast City Marathon winner Laura Graham (Mourne Runners) again made headlines when she claimed an overall victory at the Dambusters Half Marathon, in the Silent Valley area of the Mourne Mountains. Laura covered the tough course in 1:21:06 for victory – Larne AC’s David Noble took 2nd place overall and won the men’s race in 1:21:21. In Belfast, Stephen Wylie (Victoria Park & Connswater AC) and Lyndsey Tyro (Orangegrove AC) won the Run Connswater 10k in 34:34 and 43:47 respectively. Dromore AC’s Stephen O’Gorman, a third place finisher at the NI & Ulster 10,000m Championships this year, won the Tandragee 10k in 33:35, with North Belfast Harriers’ Louise Smith winning the ladies race in 38:35.
Source: NiRunning