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21st
Feb 2011
Provincial Medal Bonanza From Indoors At Odyssey Arena
Belfasts Odyssey Centre hosted the National Senior and Ulster
Juvenile Indoor championships over the weekend and proved
to be a hugely rewarding venue for local athletes with twenty
two Ulster Juvenile medals and a host of excellent performances
from City of Derry athletes over the comprehensive two day
programme. Among the highlights were the double gold and a
silver from U16 star Ciara Armstrong;a cracking U16 800 metres
gold from Shane McGowan; Ryan McParlands U17 double gold and
a silver and further gold plus silver efforts from U16 sprinter
Jack McCloskey and U17 jumper Claire Dougherty.
The talented young red vests were regulars on the awards
podium on both Saturday and Sunday and with a raft of other
non medalling performances showed that they will be a force
to be reckoned with once again this year. A handful of local
athletes contested the senior events with Connor Bradley,s
impressive sixth place finish in a hotly contested mens 3000metres,where
he clocked an eye catching 8m 16secs,the best showing.
For the North West the Letterkenny 800metres duo Mark English
and Darren McBrearty were magnificient in claiming senior
gold and silver, English winning in a quick 1m 51.62s from
his clubmate; Finn Valley pole vaulter Tori Pena cleared 4m
10cm for gold and Tirconail jumper Mary McLoone took Triple
Jump gold and Long Jump silver with Dan Mooney surprising
everybody with a mens 1500m silver to add to the Letterkenny
tally.
But back to the City of Derry performances and Ciara Armstrong
was in terrific form bagging a golden sprint double with a
8.22s clocking for 60m gold followed by a storming 26.60s
run for the 200m victory. She followed up with a Long Jump
silver and looks set for a outstanding outdoor season. Ryan
McParland also claimed a medal treble despite not firing on
all cyclinders and came away with 60m and 200m gold plus silver
in the 60m Hurdles; Jack McCloskey and Claire Dougherty both
won two medals,Jack took 200m gold and 60m silver while Claire
continued her good form with High Jump gold and Long Jump
silver.
Shane McGowan showed a clean pair of heels to the opposition
in the U16 800m clocking a terrific new PB of 2m 09.59s for
a facile victory and this should boost his confidence in advance
of tomorrows Ulster Schools cross country championships in
Mallusk. Connor Breslin made an encouraging debut at this
level finishing in the bronze medal position. There were golds
also for Lisa Bradley in the U14 Walk;Martin McGeady in the
U16 High Jump and Callum Imrie in the U16 Long Jump as the
medals continued to flow.
Amy Jackson went so close to U17 800m gold but was edged out
on the line by a mere half a second but she too will travel
to Mallusk with new found confidence tomorrow after her 2m
27s clocking. Aoife Laverty beat her periennal rival Clodagh
O Rielly from Annalee AC in the U15 800m but despite that
plus a 2m 28.84s time lost gold to a Letterkenny athlete.
However the Thornhill student will also fancy her chances
in Mallusk. Victoria Boyce made her mark with a fine silver
medal run in the U15 60m and Erin Gillen impressed with bronze
in the U15 Walk--indeed the Walk medals may well have been
the first in that discipline at Ulster level won by the Spartans--well
done Lisa and Erin!
Michael Cartin did very well to win bronze in the competitive
U17 6m Hurdles behind Ryan McParland and staying with the
Hurdles brothers Jimmy and Ruaidhri O Neill both won silver
medals, at U14 and U16 levels respectively as the locals continue
to show their prowess in the more technical events.
Good Performances All Round
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Another good return from an Ulster championship which involved
most of the young athletes travelling to Belfast on both Saturday
and Sunday,contesting heats and finals and trying to keep
focussed throughout two very long days of competition. Well
done to the medallists for their impressive tally of ten gold,nine
silver and three bronze and also to the others who competed
with distinction. The second round of the Ulsters will be
staged in Magherafelt on March 5th next so good luck to everyone
for that!
A word on Connor Bradley and his excellent 3000m runs over
the weekend. He ran in the heats on Saturday evening,qualifying
as a fastest loser after a 8m 25s clocking and returned to
the track on Sunday afternoon for the final.Considering he
had been out injured for three years prior to getting back
into competition late last summer and had only a 8m33s winning
run at the Armagh 3K road race just a week or so before the
Odyessy--and was an Indoor racing virgin--the weekend performance
is simply staggering.
Against that background,making a National middle distance
final was a big achievement but then to lop a further nine
seconds off a new PB--he finished a strong sixth in 8m 16.13s--was
a real statement! Irish European U23 cross country team gold
medallist Dan Mulhare of North Laois won the final in 8m 05.23s
ahead of established talents Richard Corcoran of Raheny and
Tomas Fitzpatrick of Tallagh so Connors effort was top drawer.
He outsprinted Annadales Eddie McGinley,runner up in the NI/Ulster
senior cross country a week earlier and who had been targeting
a big run at the Odyssey and beat another four or five athletes
with superior PB,s. Great to have him back and going well!
Mallusk On Wednesday
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The Mallusk playing fields tomorrow will host the combined
NI Primary Schools and Ulster Schools cross country championships
with local schools set to be in the thick of the action and
chasing honours. Among the individual medal contenders in
the Ulster Schools will be Thornhills Aoife Laverty,St Columbs
Shane McGowan and Oakgroves JP Williamson. All have come off
impressive runs in the recent District championships and the
first two excelled last weekend at the Odyssey. JP has been
going very well with Noel McMonagles local training group
and all three should be prominent in their respective races
tomorrow.
Gerry Lynch
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