BMC Back in Belfast

In the feature event of the day, the Men’s Mile, we saw 5 men go under the magical 4 minutes, one of them being Callum Morgan (CNDR) running 3.58.69. The last time someone from Northern Ireland ran sub 4 in Northern Ireland was 33 years ago in 1991. The race was won by Englishman Max Wharton in 3.58.02 with Irishman Tom Moran a close 2^nd in 3.58.57 and Callum 3^rd. In the same race Lughaidh Mallon’s 1500m split of 3.45.64 was under the B standard for the World Junior Championships.

In the Women’s A 1500m there was a win for Rebecca Osbourne (Dromore AC) running a PB of 4.21.55 a four second improvement from her previous best. Cara Laverty (Finn Valley AC) who has recently returned from college in the states finished 3^rd in 4.23.16. Rebecca Rossiter (CNDR) in 5^th place also ran a PB of 4.25.95.

The Women’s 3000m produced good runs from local athletes Aoife McGreevy (UCD) and Roise Roberts (CNDR) who ran PB’s of 9.38.50 and 9.41.09 to finish 2^nd and 3^rd respectively. Conall McClean was another local athlete who made the podium. He finished 2^nd in the Men’s A 3000m with a PB of 8.11.55.

At the same meeting, the sprints and field events, organised by Lagan Valley AC had numerous impressive performances and PBs. Callum Baird (Ballymena & Antrim AC), just a handful of days after his blistering 45.14 split to anchor the Irish 4x400m relay team in Rome, was within a few hundredths of his personal best when winning the 400m by over a second in 46.22. In the Women’s event there was a close race between Finn Valley AC’s Arlene Crossen and North Down AC’s Rachel McCann with Arlene taking the win 54.77 to 54.86.

Lauren Roy (City of Lisburn AC) returned to competitive form following her NCAA season at UTSA in Texas with a victory over the 100m in 11.92 (wind +0.3) and there were impressive times laid down in the Men’s 100m final with Bori Akinola (UCD) winning in 10.39 (wind +0.6) ahead of NI representative at the 2023 Commonwealth Youth Games Jamie Moffatt (North Down AC) who ran an excellent PB of 10.77. Craig Newell (Ballymena & Antrim AC) was 3^rd in a season’s best of 10.79.

Lagan Valley AC took the NI & Ulster Mixed Relay title in 3:37.52 ahead of Finn Valley AC by a margin of two seconds. In the field, Adrienne Gallen (Lifford Strabane) won the Women’s Hammer in 56.11m and Ben Fisher (City of Lisburn AC) won the Men’s Long Jump in 7.19m.

Well done to joint organisers Mark Kirk and John Glover.

Elsewhere at the weekend…

At the Meeting Nikaia in Nice which is part of the World Athletics Tour Nick Griggs (CNDR) finished 7^th in the 1500m lowering his PB to 3.35.40.

In Canada at the Harry Jerome Track Classic 5000m Roisin Flanagan finished 7^th in 15.43.42 with sister Eilish one place behind in a time of 15.44.68.

In Cardiff at the Welsh Championships Hannah Irwin won the Senior Women’s 1500m in 4.22.93.