WEEKEND ROUND UP 14th and 15th March

Cold windy conditions greeted over one thousand competitors at the Queens 5k last Wednesday night.  The women’s race was very closely contested with three Doctors, Lea Adamson (Annadale Striders), Rebecca Wallace (Lagan Valley AC) and Hannah Gilliland (Annadale Striders) having a great battle throughout the race. Lea proved to be the strongest down the home straight, taking the win in 16.27 from Rebecca who ran 16.29 with Hannah third in 16.33. The men’s race was dominated by Callum Morgan (CNDR TC) who took control of the race after the first kilometre. His time of 14.29 was twenty-six seconds clear of Beechmount Harriers’ JJ Gracey with Noah Kavanagh (Lagan Valley AC) third in 14.56.

At the Derry 10 Miler, Strabane AC's Ann Marie McGlynn set a new PB with a time of 54:13 to be the first woman home. The Men's event was won by Finn Valley AC's John Joe Doherty in a time of 52:46.

The NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships were held in Arkansas over the weekend with Lauren Roy (Fast Twitch AC) the sole competitor from NI. She finished sixteenth in the 60m in 7.29 and eleventh in the 200m in 23.03. She now travels to Poland for the World Indoor Championships which start this Friday.

There were some good performances at the Irish U20/23 Championships held in Athlone on Saturday. Caoimhe Gallen (Lifford Strabane AC) won the women’s U20 shot with a throw of 12.56 with teammate Cole Spencer finishing second in the U20 men’s WFD with a throw of 6.86m. Jamie Moffatt (North Down AC) finished second in the U23 men’s 60m in 6.95, and Joshua Awujoo (Fast Twitch AC) was third in the U20 men’s 60m in 7.01. Brynja Brynjarsdottir (City of Lisburn AC) finished third in the U23 women’s 60m Hurdles in 9.30 and Harvey King (Strabane AC) won the U23 men’s long jump in 6.60m.

Also on Saturday at the Podium Classic 5k in Leicester, there were two significant performances from CNDR TC teammates Frank Buchanan and Luke Kelly who both ran big PB’s of 14.05 and 14.06 respectively. Lagan Valley AC’s Frank McGrath was close behind running a PB of 14.07, with Chris Fielding also running well, finishing with a 14.18 clocking, which was just outside his best. In Liverpool on Sunday, Lea Adamson followed up her win at the Queens 5k with a win in the Liverpool half marathon in 77.03.