Thursday Sessions

We are splitting Thursday sessions to help manage numbers in the hall. Smaller kids and non competing people from 6.00 to 6.45 and those who compete from 6.30 to 7.30. If you are in doubt give me a call.

Ulster champs Pt. 2

Another day,  another shuck!!! More wind, more rain, just colder......and more mud, much more mud. It's no wonder kids give up on athletics when this is the best the governing body can come up with, dreadful course, shabby organising and a starter who was, at best,  as useful as a trapdoor in a canoe and at worst was heavily biased towards the local athletes!! A complaint will be lodged to Athletics N.I. Anyways onto the racing, and we had just two brave souls today. First up was Lucy Quinn in her first ever Ulsters.  As regular readers will know we are huge Lucy fans, she always gives 100%, and today she went the extra 1% that marks the really good from the rest. 101% from Lucy Quinn was good enough for a podium finish with an incredible 3rd place! A remarkable stat from the race was that Lucy was the only athlete  from the 6 counties to get into the top 20! An Irish championship appearance in Cavan on Dec 7th is Lucy's reward (or penance).  If there is an embodiment of all that is good in junior athletics then it must be Rachael Quinn. No-one enjoys their athletics more or is more popular than Rachael. Although more suited to sprinting on the track she gave everything for a qualification place and although she came up short it surely wasn't for the lack of effort. The disappointment she felt and still feels will be softened by the call we had with Athletics N.I. on Tuesday when it turns out Rachael made the county team with ease and will be going to Cavan in December! Unfortunately it's the Down county team so her folks might be asking her to move out..........a big thanks again to the support team.

Changed times from training

Don't forget 6.00 start on Tuesday night's from now on........

Ulster champs Pt.1

We travelled to the U.U.J. on Sat for the even age group xc champs.  With gale force winds and driving rain it was always going to hard for our athletes to make an impression. We train our athletes very lightly and with long term goals, principally for the track. This leaves them at a disadvantage in hard conditions on tough xc courses but should, we hope, pay dividend's over the passage of time. Despite this we had hopes of qualifying  a couple for the Irish champs, this needing a top twelve finish. Tiernan Forde, Lorcan Forde, Aishling McAnulty and Katie O'Hare all finished strongly in huge fields in their categories coming home in 63rd,  21st,  90th & 29th places. These races are the highest standard races in Ulster every year and the pace is always blinding fast and relentless and our less experienced athletes will learn from their day out. It's hard to believe that 11 year old Charlotte Rea is now our most experienced athlete and was competing in her third Ulster's and was chasing a place in the Irish champs for the second time. Charlotte has recently started to develop a more competitive streak and went to the line determined to give herself a chance of qualification. 700 mts into a tough 1km race Charlotte was on course and on the finishing loop she controlled her race and came home in an excellent 11th place. This was a tremendous performance full of maturity and aggression. Every time Charlotte competes she learns more about herself and applies these lessons well. A tremendous athlete doing a great job. Last one up was Aislinn Crossey and as usual Ais delivered a sparkling performance to both put herself in a position to qualify and to finish the job off. Ais stormed home in 4th place and left this coach with no doubt that without the wind and muddy conditions a gold medal was a distinct possiblity! All our young athletes deserve immense credit for their hard work as do the parents who give up their time to come and support them. We move on to Donegal for the un-even Ulster's in a fortnights time. 

Lucy wins again

Sunday morning at the Bush track for the Glenmore AC promoted cross country was on the schedule for just one of our athletes. This was due to the Ulster age group championship next Saturday. Only one but a good one! A cold, miserable, windy morning at the Bush was nothing new for us as we have hidden in hedges out here all summer to get out of the weather! Lucy made her normal electric start and led off the line but unlike the race in Stamullen she was challenged after 200 mts and indeed dropped 10 mts off the pace and looked uncomfortable in 2nd place. Lucy knows how to dig in and rounding the last turn 100 mts from the line she was back in the race and into the gale to the line she was the strongest. Lucy will improve even more from this run and as this was only her 4th event she gains invaluable experience each time she competes. A big thanks to Charlotte Rea for helping with the warmups. 

Sunday Session

At the back of the pool this Sunday for any-one interested.

Stamullen xc report

Another fine day, this time in the cattle fields of Co. Meath! A few of our young athletes were  making their debut today, as was our new kit. Both kids and kit performed brilliantly and all credit to the parents who turned up to support their children, it makes a big difference to them and to the coaches in the club. Niamh Hagen, Jane Rea, Lorcan Forde and Ben McConville were the 8 and 9 year old debutants and all finished well up in their races with Lorcan and Ben finishing 5th and 7th. In the older groups Katie O'Hare showed she learned from last weeks xc in Belfast  and had a great sprint finish to finish well, Gary Crummy, Aodhan O'Brien, Tiernan Forde and Luc Hanna all ran well in the boys u-12 1000 mts with Gary coming home in 7th. Charlotte Rea pinned the start this week, learning from last weeks mistake, and got away in the front bunch eventually finishing 4th, reversing places from last week. Fastest finisher off the day was Rachael Quinn using her natural speed to finish 10th. Lucy Quinn continued the good form from last week and led off the line in the most competitive race of the day, the girls u-11 800 mts. Lucy is a tenacious character and would not let go of the lead up the long hill and showed great composure and controlled the race all the way to the finish to win by 2 mts. Star performance from a classy athlete. Thanks again for all the support. Next xc for some is 19th of October in Carlingford. More info nearer the time.  

CHANGE of VENUE

From next Thursday night the 2nd of October the sessions are moving to the 3 ways community hall on High St in Newry. This is up High St and turn down to the right towards the Rope Walk football pitch. This only is on Thursday nights as the Tuesday sessions will continue at the swimming pool. These sessions will be almost always indoors but always take enough gear in case we go outside! Times will be the same but we may start a bit earlier in a week or two for any who want to do a bit more warm up and stretching. 

XC in Stamullen

Anyone interested in this Sundays XC please let us know asap so we can organise transport. 

Barnetts Pk XC

What a glorious day for a run, and what a glorious place to be running. Barnetts Pk is just a hop, skip and a jump from the Mary Peters track. Now the coaches at Newry A.C. hold the view that xc racing isn't altogether the best form of competition for young athletes, but at this time of year it has a value for some and is also useful as a training tool. With this in mind we took 7 athletes to the first xc of the season. First up in the P.6 race and competing for the first time was Katie O'Hare. This was a debut performance over a very tough 650 mt course full of determination and grit. Katie is a very quiet girl but is totally committed to her athletics and in the fullness of time will blossom into a very fine athlete. Boys and girls mixed in the P.7 race and had 2 laps of the course to complete. Lucy Quinn's speed took her past team mate Charlotte Rea and another competitor in the dash to the line and into a great 3rd place. Lucy really has the fire to win and this is something that cant be coached, the message is "dont take Lucy to the line, she'll beat you or bite you". Charlotte finished just behind in 5th and will improve for the run. Aodhan O'Brien ghosted into 6th place and Luc Hanna continued his improvement in 9th. Although Gary Crummy could easily have lined up in the P.5 race without raising an eyebrow his birth cert said he had to go in the year 8 group! Gary is an enigma, he has a massive stride length for someone so small, and more importantly has a high cadence to go with it. This combination will prove devastating as Gary gets older and it took him to a fine 3rd place, indeed but for a bit of tactical naivete second place might have been on the cards. Aislinn Crossey was well annoyed when she discovered that she had to run 3 laps of the course for a total of 2000 mts. The course didn't have a flat bit on it and indeed had a hill that has no place in a juvenile xc course, but thats another story. The original plan was to pull Ais out after 2 laps to preserve her speed, but circumstances changed and the decision was taken to run the full distance although the race plan also changed and Ais went off with instructions to keep her powder dry until the last lap. Maria Kinkaid, now with Dromore A.C., set of at a blistering pace and this tactic exploded the field on the first ascent of the steep hill. Aislinn soon appeared in second place albeit a long way behind. On the second climb of heartbreak hill the gap closed a bit but opened again on the following downhill. Third and last time into the bottom of the hill and the task for Aislinn looked like a bridge too far.....now perhaps this was my pessimism, never having seen a gap like this closed on a top class athlete like Maria in the last 250 mts of a race, or perhaps my lack of understanding of the power and determination in Aislinn Crossey but OMIGOD what a spectacle we were treated to over that last 250!! If you weren't there you missed a special athlete doing a special thing! Ais has only been with us for 6 months and it is very much a novice..........but she's getting better! Thanks to the Quinn family and Pat O'Hare for transport and support. Off to Stamullen next Sunday for the Star of the Sea xc, details asap.          

Big crowds!

Really great to see so many young athletes at the session tonight, don't forget to return kit order forms asap and the cross country this Sunday, details on Thursday.

Update on Sunday training

Slight change of plans for Sunday due to time constraints! We will now be at the back of the pool at 5.00 instead of going to the Bush, sorry for any hassle.

Training on Sunday

There is a training session on this Sunday at the Bush track at 6 p.m. for anyone who fancies it. I have limited space for a few but if any parents want to go down let me know. Its important for anyone intending running in the few xc races to try and get to the weekend sessions. 

Update on kit

Should have some samples for everyone to try on next week. Keep the forms coming back and if anyone is coming to either of the two cross country races this month let us know asap.

Membership

All the athletes who turned up at tonights session were given a membership form and a covering letter, please have a read and and decide if you want to join or not. Send the forms back to a session any time. Ta

Cross country schedule

Some parents have been asking for a schedule of XC races this autumn so here is what we know so far, two races in September, on the 21st in Belfast and the 28th in Stamullen. The Ulster champs are on 25th of October for even age groups i.e. under 10/12/14 etc in the UUJ Jordanstown and the un-even is in Ballybofey on November 9th. It is very important to let us know if you intend competing as we have scheduled a program to lead into the championship races and it starts next week!!  Parents are reminded that due to transport considerations it may be required that they chip as chauffeur's from time to get all the kids to events.   

Track Meet

First meet and first success for our new club! On a calm and balmy late summers evening at the Mary Peters track in Belfast we took 8 athletes to the last round of the young athletes league. First up were 11 year olds  Gary Crummy & Luc Hanna in the 600 mts. Now, Gary listens to the coach, ignores all he's told, and does his own thing! And no bad thing too as Gary stormed to the lead on the first bend and held on to win by the width of his tee shirt....show's how much I know! A great time as well. Luc had a great race winning a three man sprint for a fine 8th place and in the process showing a determination he had kept hidden in previous races, keep it up. In the girls 600 we had 4 athletes, Charlotte Rea had trained hard all summer for this race in the hope of beating 2 minutes for the distance and she got a reward for all her work finishing in a new PB by over 6 seconds with a time of 1'59.5", her efforts got her into a great 3rd place. Newcomer Lucy Quinn adopted the Gary Crummy method of ignoring the instructions and going at it like a dog at a bone! This proved a hit for the second time......go figure. Lucy ran a smashing 2'05"  and came home in 6th place. Jennifer Heaney, despite missing most of the summer still ran an excellent 2''10" and also in her first 600 race Olivia Gibbons ran a very good 2'36". Charlotte also found time to enter the javelin competition and threw 10.40 mts missing 3rd place by just one centimetre. In the '95 girls 800mts Aislinn Crossey followed the sluggish pace for 250 mts before she decided enough was enough and cut loose. Over the next 400 she wound up the pace and reduced the field to three contenders. With 150 to go she kicked again and the race was over! 2'38" doesn't go close to describing how emphatic this win was, Aislinn ran the last 200 in under 33 seconds! "It's easier when I run faster" says Ais, obviously not using the script the rest of us have! Jennifer Heslip ran a PB by over 15 seconds despite not liking longer races. This was good enough for 8th place. Also good enough for me, well done. Thanks to all who came down and thanks to Rory Quinn for transport and help.