200 Athletes Attend Newry, Mourne and Down Sports Hall Events
05 March 2019
A total of 200 primary school athletes from across 17 different schools competed in the Down and Newry regional sports hall competitions this year. The events were held at the Ballymote Sports Wellbeing Centre (Monday 4th February) and Newry Leisure Centre (Monday 11th February).
The competitions were organised by Athletics NI through the Sport NI Every Body Active 2020 Initiative. The two days saw athletes compete in a 1 lap sprint, standing long jump, speed bounce, optional 6 lap endurance races and an opportunity for individual schools to go head to head in the mixed agility relay and 1 lap sprint relay.
Outstanding performances at the Down Regional sports hall event came from Maebh Higgins and Lewis McCrickard who both won the overall girls and boys award. Maebh took gold in two out of the three scoring events, winning her 1 Lap sprint and the Standing Long Jump. Lewis McCrickard took the overall win with three top 6 finishes across the three events with a 2nd place finish in the standing long jump. Meanwhile in Newry two pupils from Tandragee PS swept the board. Lexie Rees and Theo Milligan dominated throughout, winning all 3 of the individual events.
32 athletes will now progress to the Athletics NI Every Body Active Final on 3rd April at Lisburn Leisureplex. The two teams from Down and Newry will be trained and managed by regional coaches Anna McIlmoyle (Down) and Michael Dyer (Newry) and will face the best athletes from 6 other regions as they compete for the crowns of best all round boy and girl in this multi event initiative.
Coach Development Lead and Everybody Active Manager Laura Kerr said “Our primary school sports hall initiatives have grown year on year and Athletics NI are delighted to have hosted 1000 children at 7 regional events this year. This would not be possible without the support of our dedicated, regional EBA coaches who have coordinated each event and will train and manage their teams to the final.”
“This year we look forward to growing the initiative by offering a similar outdoor multi-events competition in June 2019. At this stage of the pathway it’s essential to engage children with a range of fun running, jumping and throwing events and we look forward to adding Finn Flyer Javelin, short approach Long Jump and 8x50m relays to the outdoor programme. An opportunity exists for many of these young athletes to continue athletics in the Rising Stars Regional programmes and we look forward to their progression over the coming years.”
For further information on athletic development and the Every Body Active 2020 Athletics initiatives in the Newry, Mourne & Down area please contact Anna McIlmoyle directly via email anna@athleticsni.org, or Michael Dyer on 07756120457, or alternatively via email: michael@athleticsni.org