22nd
June 08 Foyle Area Primary Schools
Athletics Championships 2008
On Thursday night 13 Primary Schools from all
over the Foyle area arrived at Templemore Sports Complex to
fight it out for the title of “Foyle Area Primary Schools Athletics
Champions.” However it was never going to be easy with each
child having to compete in four different events to try and
score points for their School Team. The school teams of four
girls and four boys had been selected prior to the event when
each school was treated to an athletics session at their school
provided by two experienced coaches.
The four events on the night were the 60m sprint,
600m endurance race, long jump and chest push throw. The athletes
showed their versatility by producing excellent performances
all round. The top three girls and boys in each event received
a coveted Athletics Northern Ireland medal for their excellent
performances.
Codie Weir of St Eithnes won the girl’s sprint in an extremely
respectable time of 8.85. Close behind in a time of 8.87 was
Greenhaw’s Lauren Malone and the bronze medal went to Fiona
Davis From Ballykelly in 9.00.
Conor Breslin of St Eithnes was the Gold medal winner in the
boys sprint in 8.06 showing St Eithne’s strength over the short
distance. Conor also won gold in the long jump, and silver in
the 600m easily securing him the prize of “Best Boy” of the
night.
The girls 600m produced the most exciting race of the night
when Alisha Mc Claren, St Therese Lenamore and Amie Cassidy,
St Patricks Pennyburn fought right to the line in the gruelling
distance for the primary school girls. Alisha was the stronger
on this occasion and held on to win in 2.05.89 with Amie in
second in 2.06.80. Fiona Davis, Ballykelly finished in third
in 2.11.51.
The long distance event for the boys was won by St Eithne’s
Shane Mc Gowan, with Conor Breslin ,St Eithnes in second, again
showing the depth of talented runners being produced by the
school that “no surprises” has an athletics coach Tracy Kelly
under their employment. The bronze medal in the 600m went to
Artigarvan’s Craig Peters.
Aoife Graham of Hollybush won the girl’s long jump in a leap
of 3.45. Second and third went to Rachel Mackey, Ballykelly
and Derbhla Wilson, St Therese Lenamore respectively.
As the “Best Boy” of the night, Conor Breslin took home the
Gold medal in the long jump, Rory Maguire, Hollybush and Craig
Peters, Artigarvan had to settle for silver and bronze.
The chest push throw proved to be a difficult event for some
and the resulting scores helped to decide the main prizes of
the night. The best throw for the girls came from Rose Brolly
of Mullabuoy in a distance of 7.60. Only 10cm off 1st place
was Fiona Davis from BallyKelly in 7.50 and 3rd went to Keara
Thomlinson of Mullabuoy with 7.10.
The furthest throw of the boys came from Ballykelly’s Oran O’Kane.
Oran was the only competitor to pass the 8m mark with his excellent
8.40 throw. Second went to Artigarvan’s Craig Peters with 7.50
and third was Luke Mc Laughlin from Ballykelly with 7.40.
The worthy winners of the Boys Team Trophy were St Eithne’s
showing that hard work does pay off. The Girls Team Trophy went
to Ballykelly with the help of their two star performers Fiona
Davis and Rachel Mackey who battled it out for the title of
“Best Girl” of the evening. However Rachel just piped Fiona
overall and so went home with the trophy. This superb Girls
Team score along with a solid performance from the boys meant
that Ballykelly received the main trophy of the night for Best
Overall Team.
The organiser Elaine Mc Caffrey would like to take this opportunity
to thank all the coaches and volunteers who help on the night,
especially those from City of Derry and Olympian Athletics Club
who sacrificed a training night to allow the competition to
take place. If it were not for the support the event would not
have been such a success.
Elaine McCaffrey
