Local Athletes Strike Gold at Home and in England

29 August 2017

Local ladies Eve Walsh-Dann (North Down AC) and Jade Williams (Shercock AC) secured gold medals at the England Athletics Age-Group Championships this weekend, while at home, City of Lisburn AC dominated the Team Trophy competition at Mary Peters Track.

In Bedford (England), Eve Walsh-Dann and Jade Williams excelled as a team of up and coming NI & Ulster athletes impressed at the highly competitive England Athletics Age-Group Championships.  In the 200m ambulant (T36), there was excellent sprinting by Under 17 athlete Eve Walsh-Dann who moved to fourth ranked T36 in the world with a new best of 31.73 (0.0); this was a new personal best and saw Eve take the gold medal.  She also performed well in the T36 100m, clocking 15.74 (0.0) for 3rd place.

In the Under 17 Hammer, Jade Williams again showed her potential with a 59.77m throw to take gold.  Another thrower, Under 15 athlete Casey Mulvey (Innyvale AC), landed a 13.85m effort in the Shot Putt to take 2nd place.

City of Lisburn AC’s Jordan Cunningham (Under 15) picked up two new personal bests on a busy day of competition – Jordan was in action in the 80m hurdles, the Long Jump and the Shot Putt.  In the 80m hurdles, he ran a PB of 11.64 in the heats, before running 11.71 in the final.  In the 4kg Shot Putt, the Lisburn athlete landed a PB throw of 12.79m; he then went on to record 5.72m in the Long Jump.

Under 17 duo Lauren Roy (City of Lisburn AC) and Anna McCauley (City of Lisburn AC) both lined up in the Under 17 100m – Lauren recorded an impressive 12.26 (0.3) in the semi-final before running 12.37 (1.1) for a top ten finish in the final.  Anna clocked 12.49 (0.5) in the heats.  She then went on to jump 1.69m in the High Jump, finishing just outside her personal best and just outside the podium places.

North Down AC’s Rachel McCann (Under 17) ran 40.78 in the in the 300m heats, before recording 40.52 in the final.  Another Under 17 athlete, Holly Mulholland, was competing in the 80m hurdles, where she ran 12.08 (0.7).  Under 15 Ballymena & Antrim AC club mates Alice Rodgers and Jonathan Cochrane were in action in the 200m and Triple Jump respectively – in her 200m heats, Alice clocked 25.99 (2.6) and went on to run 26.28 (0.8) in the final.  Meanwhile, in the Triple Jump, Jonathan jumped to 12.82m (3.4).

At home, City of Lisburn AC won both the male and female competitions at the NI & Ulster Team Trophy, held at the Mary Peters Track in Belfast.  They also won the Senior 4x100m and 4x400m Relay Championship races – City of Lisburn AC members won at least twenty of the days races, therefore proving worthy champions.

In the 4x100m relay, City of Lisburn AC men won in 52.90, while their ladies took gold in 54.30.  In the 4x400m event, the City of Lisburn AC men ran 3:42.57 for top spot – the ladies where bettered by a mixed Lisburn and Derry/L’Derry team but were still crowned champions with a 3:43.39 finish.

City of Lisburn AC quartet Tom Baird, Caitlyn Rose, Colin Clear and Adam Hill all enjoyed double victories, as did Lagan Valley AC’s Lynsey Glover.

Tom won the 400m in 53.51 and the 1500m in 4:16.99, while Caitlyn won both the 100m hurdles (19.18) and 400m hurdles (1:16.01).  Colin topped the podium in the Shot Putt with a 7.05m effort, then went on the win the Discuss with a 25.93m throw.  Adam claimed victory in the High Jump with 1.85m and also the Javelin, after launching a 39.35m throw.  Lynsey broke the City of Lisburn AC dominance with wins in the Shot Putt (8.04m) and the Hammer (40.72m).

North Down AC’s Murphy Miller won the ladies 400m in 1:01.32, while her club mate Rachel Gibson won the 1500m in 4:38.94.  Shane Martin (Ballymena & Antrim AC) and Ellie McCartney (City of Lisburn AC) were victorious in the Pole Vault – Shane jumped to 4.30m, while Ellie reached 3.65m.

Lydia Mills (Ballymena & Antrim AC) won the ladies Long Jump with 5.43m, while Ben Fisher (City of Lisburn AC) leaped 7.18m to win the men’s competition.  Kerry Annett (City of Lisburn AC) and Mark Burton (City of Lisburn AC) were successful in the Triple Jump – Kerry won with a 10.44m effort, with Mark topping the men’s standings after landing at 13.92m. 

Sarah McGlynn of Lagan Valley AC was a convincing winner in the Discuss, throwing 32.43m for the win.  Sarah Woods (City of Lisburn AC) also dominated her Javelin competition, winning with a 27.42m throw.  John Glover (Lagan Valley AC) and Barry Morris (City of Lisburn AC) enjoyed wins in their respective 4kg and 7.26kg Hammer competitions; John threw 26.28m, with Barry landing a 11.03m throw.

In the 800m, Rebecca Harvey (City of Lisburn AC) won the ladies race in 2:26.14, while her club mate Sean Terek led the men’s field home in 2:03.50.  Springwell Running Club’s Neil Johnston broke the beam first in the 3,000m event, winning in 8:27.95.  In the 3,000m Steeplechase, City of Lisburn AC’s Paul McCullagh recorded 12:54.80 for victory.

City of Lisburn AC ladies Emilia Cutrona and Karyn Dumigan dominated the sprints – Emilia won the 100m in 13.61 and Karyn led the way in the 200m with 29.15.

Elsewhere this weekend…

Top Ten place for Emma Mitchell at World University Games:

Northern Ireland 10,000m and 5,000m record holder Emma Mitchell (QUB AC / Eamonn Christie) secured an impressive 7th place finish over 5,000m at the World University Games in Taipei earlier today (Sunday 27th August 2017).

Emma, who was ninth in the 10,000m at the event last week, recorded 16:00.02 over the 5,000m distance – this is was just over ten seconds outside of her NI record of 15:50.55.

Hanna Klein (Germany) won the race in 15:45.28 (1st place), while Emma’s Ireland team-mate Shona Heaslip 16:09.62 for 11th place.

NI pair Stephen Scullion and Laura Graham win Frank Duffy 10:

Northern Ireland duo Stephen Scullion (Clonliffe Harriers) and Laura Graham (Mourne Runners) were in excellent form as they secured top honours at the highly competitive Frank Duffy 10 mile road race in Dublin, Ireland (Saturday 26th August 2017).

The event, which is an official build up race for the Dublin City Marathon, attracted 5,500 participants.

Stephen recorded 50:37 to secure 1st place in the men’s race.  North Belfast Harriers men Andrew Annett and Lindsay Gordon also claimed top ten place, with Andrew crossing the line in 53:42 for 5th place and Lindsay 53:52 for 6th place.

In what was a close ladies race, with the podium finishers all finishing within less than thirty seconds apart, Laura broke the tape in a new personal best of 58:50 (1st place).

 Source: NiRunning