WEEKEND ROUND UP 30th-31st May

The performance of the weekend came from Lauren Roy (Fast Twitch Athletics), who produced a remarkable display at the West Regional Preliminaries. Roy not only achieved the Commonwealth Games consideration standard in the 100m and 200m but also rewrote the Northern Ireland record books in the process. Her times of 11.23 seconds and 22.83 seconds eclipsed the long-standing NI records held by Amy Foster for more than a decade. Roy's 200m performance also secured qualification for the NCAA Championships, which begin on 11 June in Oregon.

At the Trond Mohn Games in Norway, John Kelly (Finn Valley AC) finished fifth in the men's shot put with a putt of 17.86m.

On Friday, Nick Griggs (CNDR AC) lined up in the men's 1500m at the World Athletics Continental Tour Gold meeting in Bydgoszcz, Poland. Despite a slow early pace, Griggs closed strongly to finish fourth in a season's best time of 3:38.92.

The second BMC Grand Prix meeting of the season took place on Saturday at the University of Birmingham track, where ideal conditions helped produce a host of impressive performances. Hannah Irwin (Cambridge and Coleridge) claimed victory in the women's 5000m after a thrilling battle to the line, crossing in 15:31.97. Candour Track Club athletes Kirsti Foster and Roise Roberts both recorded PBs of 16:08.69 and 16:24.02 respectively, while Amy Greene (Finn Valley AC) completed a hat-trick of personal best performances with 16:43.53.

In the men's A 1500m, Callum Morgan (CNDR) finished strongly but narrowly missed out on victory, placing second in a season's best 3:40.23. Niamh Carr (DCH) also impressed in the women's A 1500m, finishing fifth in a PB of 4:13.25, taking almost three seconds off her previous mark.

At the ANI Open Meeting at the Mary Peters Track, Charlie Lawden (North Down AC) won the men's javelin with a throw of 54.29m, while Lexx McConville (North Down AC) took victory in the men's high jump with a clearance of 1.85m.

Competing in Italy at the Triveneto Meeting, Andrew Thompson (North Belfast Harriers) finished eighth in the men's 800m in 1:47.20.

On Sunday, Mark English (Finn Valley AC) was in action at the Rabat Diamond League. Unable to reproduce the form that earned him a maiden Diamond League victory in China two weeks earlier, English finished 11th in 1:45.00.

There was also success on the roads in Cork, where Stephen McAuley (Letterkenny AC) claimed victory in the men's marathon in 2:22.42. The Irish National Half Marathon Championships were held in conjunction with the event, and Fionnuala Ross (Armagh AC) secured third place in the women's race with a time of 77:02.

Another weekend of outstanding performances highlighted the strength and depth of athletics across Northern Ireland, with athletes continuing to make their mark on both the domestic and international stage.

**As always, while we endeavour to include all notable performances, some results may be missed. If you have an important result that has not been featured, please email details to info@athleticsni.org and we will be happy to update the report.