ULSTER SCHOOLS 2025
21 May 2025
Junior Girls 800m
Almost perfect conditions at the Mary Peters Track greeted hundreds of athletes for the annual running of the Ulster Schools Track and Field Championships which is one of the highlights of the local track and field fixtures.
The warm sunny conditions produced some outstanding performances with fifteen new championship records being set.
One of the highlights of the day was the Intermediate Boys 100m which saw the closest of finishes between Joshua Awujoola (Dromore HS) and Ben Sykes (Grosvenor HS). Both athletes ran the same time of 10.77 which was a new Championship record surpassing the 10.85 of former Olympian John McAdory which had stood since 1989. Also in the sprints Maisie Hobson (Kilcomaine HS) broke the Minor Girls 100m record in both the heats and the final with 12.60 and 12.79. The first two finishers in the Intermediate Boys 400m Harrison Jamison (Regent HS) and Jack O’Connor (St. Michaels) broke the 400m record with Harrison clocking the first ever Intermediate Boy sub fifty second 400m with 49.60. In the Senior Boys 400m hurdles Ethan Dewhirst (St. Columbus) broke Chris Quinn’s record by almost a second running 53.31
The most dominant performance of the weekend came from Madison Welby (Friends) in the Junior Girls 800m. She ran 2.10.14 surpassing the existing record of Lizzie McWilliams by over five seconds and with a winning margin of ten seconds. There were also numerous other records broken in the girl’s distance events. In the Intermediate girls 1500m Abbey Smith (Colaiste Dun an Ri Kingscourt) had the distinction of breaking Irish 1500m record holder Ciara Mageean’s record with 4.33.81, 2nd place finisher in that race, Emily Morris (Strathearn) had the consolation of winning the 3000m in a new record time of 9.58.36. This time erased the record of the winner of the Senior Girls 3000m, Annabell Morrison (Enniskillen Royal), who placed herself back on the record books by winning the Senior girls 3000m in a new record time of 9.44.92. Annabell’s teammate Annabelle McKenzie had a convincing win in the 1500m steeplechase winning in a new record time of 5.29.36.
In the field events Zac Fox (BRA) competing in the Minor Boys long jump became the first minor boy ever to jump six meters jumping 6.00m exceeding the previous record held by Johnny Cochrane by over thirty centimetres. Freddie Wallace (Friends) surpassed his own Para long jump record jumping 5m 46.
The Championships were concluded with the 4x400m and 4x300m relays. There was another very exciting finish in the Senior Girls 4x300m relay with Loreto Letterkenny just taking the victory ahead of Strathearn in 2.57.67 which was a new record. Strathearn’s 2.57.76 was also under the previous record. A Donegal school also won the Senior Boys 4x400m with Loreto Milford winning comfortably from Omagh CBS in a record time of 3.30.82.