28th
July 08SPARTANS ARE NORTHERN
IRELAND CHAMPIONS
Seventy City of Derry Athletes
triumphed for a second year in a row in the Finals of the Young
Athletes League in Antrim on Saturday
This year’s final was contested by Lagan Valley,
Regent House, Olympian, Mid-Ulster, Dromore, North Down and
a Chairman Select. City of Derry went into the events as reigning
Champions and as hot favourites to retain the title. The teams
were made up of U13/U15/U17 boys and girls sections, with points
given for finishing positions.
In the Girls U13 Claire Dougherty and Ciara
Armstrong dominated their events with Claire just missing out
on the YAL All Time Record of 1.45 m in the High Jump. Ciara
received the Athlete of the Meet for her performance in 150m
sprint with a time of 19.96secs (six hundredth of a second outside
the league record). The sprint relay team of Armstrong, Dougherty,
Hone and Mc Laren were also too strong for the opposition.
In the boys U13, the highest points were gathered
by Ruaidhri O’Neill (Winner of the High Jump and Hurdles) Conor
Morris (Winner of the B High Jump & 2nd in the Long Jump
and 80m sprint) and Shane Mc Gowan (winner of B200m and B1500m).
This was one of the toughest sections of Saturday’s competition
as the track events were dominated by Lagan Valley and Regent
House athletes.
In the Girls U15 section winners were Emma
Mc Kay and Tamara Boyle. There was a super victory by the relay
team of Alix Mc Daid, Lisa Dobbins, Tamara Boyle with the last
leg sprinter Anna Barr lying in 3rd spot at the final change
over and clawed back 15 metres to win on the line over Lagan
Valley with a photo finish decision.
City of Derry had a very strong and talented
U15 Boys section with several excellent performances by Andrew
Bolster (1st 400m and 800m) Jamie Devine (1st Long Jump and
Shot). Devine and Bolster were joined by Dale Kelly and Oisin
Duddy to take victory in the 4x400m relay.
The U17 Girls won several individual events
with Jamie Herron’s double 1st in the High Jump and Triple Jump.
Kelly Simpson took Athlete of the Meet in this section with
a super 29metre throw in the Javelin. Eimear Hone, Emma Gee,
Jamie Herron and Amy Mc Daid ran a great 4x300m with a 30m victory
over Lagan Valley. Girls Team Captain Aileen Faller picked up
valuable points in the Shot put, Triple Jump, 300m hurdles and
relay.
In the Boys U17 the only winners were team
captain Daniel Reid 400m hurdles and Connor Cregan High Jump.
There were several personal bests in the middle distance by
Williamson, Lynch, Heaney and Mc Carthy. After a fall in the
100m hurdles Scott Graydon picked himself up and finished the
event making sure no points were lost!
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Jim
