Athletes Set New NI Records

In particular, the NI & Ulster ladies have had a great start to the season, with Commonwealth Games athlete, Kate O’Connor (Dundalk St Gerards AC) breaking both the Senior and U20 Female Northern Irish records for the Javelin with a throw of 49.46m on 18^th May 2019 at the Leinster Schools Championships. She had previously broken the Senior & U20 NI female record for the Heptathlon with 5881 points, on 28^th April at the Multi-Stars Competition in Lana, Italy.

Joining her in sporting success is youth athlete, Victoria Lightbody (City of Lisburn AC) who achieved a new PB time of 2.09:49 in the 800m at the British Milers Grand Prix in Manchester. This now means the 15 year old is No1 in the UK Ranking for U17 Girls for the 800m distance.

Former Youth Academy athlete, Sarah Connolly (North Down AC) broke the 5000 point barrier during the England Athletics U20 & Senior Combined Events Championships on 26^th May 2019. Sarah finished the competition with a total of 5022 points in 5^th place overall.

But the NI & Ulster Men are not to be forgotten with Finn Valley AC’s John Kelly throwing a new NI Senior Men’s record of 17.62m at the Loughborough International on 19^th May 2019.

North Down AC’s Aaron Sexton won the 100m at the Ulster Schools Championships in Antrim on 18^th May 2019, with a time of 10.49 (1.9w/s), breaking the Men’s U20 Northern Irish record. Aaron also holds the U20 record for the 200m as well as the U18 records for the 100m and 200m.

With the NI & Ulster Championships coming up in the next two weeks, plus many more events during the summer, both at home and further afield, we can expect to see more outstanding performances. For more information on the upcoming local fixtures, please see here.