What is it with Jennifer and MPT!!!

Yeah what is it!! Every time we go there Jennifer has a problem!! Sick or injured or both. A real pity this time she hurt her knee in the warm up cos she's be running great and another PB was a dead cert. Next time Jennifer.

Spike sale.

As part of my extensive research program to improve the club I have learned that Donaghy's shop in Banbridge are having a sale of spikes. All sorts are on offer, sprints, middle distance & xc. Make sure you buy the proper one's!!! Ask me if you're not sure.

Relay Success!!!

Also in Antrim we had the first relay success in the club's short history. The minor girl's 4 x 200 gave us the chance to field a strong team with Charlotte leading off from lane 8 and breaking off the bend with the a lead which she handed to Lauren. This lead was extended by the time our regular number three, Jennifer, got the baton. Jennifer is a brilliant bend runner and by the time she handed over to Lucy we were always going to win!! Absolutely brilliant by all the girls!! They all work really hard every session in training, they are all great friends and they have done themselves, our club and their families proud. WELL DONE.

YAL Rd 1

For sure there won't be many better days than this!! We travelled to the Antrim Forum for the first round of the McCain's Young Athlete's League with no small amount of trepidation as it was our first track meeting of the year. It's always hard to know what to expect from a first event and we definitely couldn't have expected the our athlete's to perform as well as they did. First up was high jumper Aoibhin McKay. A good clearance at 1.40 was good enough for second place. Aoibhin just scraped the bar off on her third attempt at 1.45. As we were only allowed two competitors in the 800 mts and as we had four possibles, Lauren Hutchinson and Charlotte Rea got handed the short straw and were bumped into the 1200 mts, much to Charlotte's annoyance, but, hey, that's why the coach gets paid a fortune, to make the hard decision's!!! The girl's went to the start with instruction's to follow the pace and see what develops. Not much was the answer and after 300 mts or so they set their own pace. They chatted their way round for another 700 mts and then the two chum's had to race a 200 mts to the finish. Lauren came out on top and both girl's will take few lesson's but good confidence from this mature run.Next were the sprint's with Lucy Quinn subbing for Rebecca Gamble and Hollie Halpin running up an age group to gain a bit of experience. Both girl's ran really well with Hollie running a PB. The experience will help when the summer comes.
Then came the 800's with Lucy along with Jennifer Heaney getting the start in the minor girl's. Again with instruction's to follow the girl's found themselves in the lead after 300 and they pushed on to record another first and second with Lucy just shading Jennifer to the tape. A PB for both as it was Lucy's first 800 and Jennifer took a massive 5 seconds off her best. Their spring training has obviously been going great.
Aislinn Crossey was too old by three weeks to take part in the junior girls so was the youngest competitor in the under 17. Our under 15 Ulster 800 mts champ has been under the weather and had a dis-jointed prep these past few month's and went to the line a bundle of nerves! Aislinn is a competitor through and through and was always in control of the race. She followed the pace and produced her customary kick with 250 mts to go and in a matter of strides opened a race winning advantage. An impressive start by all our athlete's then but they will know that harder days lie ahead.

Circus in town!!!

Nothing unusual in that, or nothing to do with us you may think. Well that's where you'd be wrong. Of all the land in Newry where the local politicians could have put the circus some clown's in suit's decided that the running track was the best place. These same clown's and their political colleagues will be knocking your door soon to beg for your vote and will be pleading absolute support for whatever you fancy.............remind them of the circus as you slam the door in their face!! We are again indebted to Glenmore AC for use of the track at the Bush this Thursday night. Please be there by 6.30, if you ain't going to the circus that is. Give me a bell if you need transport or directions.

Spring has sprung!!

At last!! Yes this is the Bush track this morning when over twenty young athletes from Glenmore joined our own regulars for the Sunday session. Beautiful morning and everyone running well. We are indebted to Glenmore AC all winter for use of the track. Our athletes are due for their first track race of the year at the YAL meeting at the Antrim Forum on the 24th of this month. Then it's onto MPT Belfast on the 29th. Details about travel asap.

XC round-up

The schools xc shoot out happened after a weather cancellation and it was the chuckle sisters who ended up with smiley faces, at least for a day or two! Having been awarded the leading minor school Sacred Heart had it taken off them later in the week when after a recount Victoria College were discovered to have actually taken the prize!! Ah well it was a really good effort and at Newry AC we placed four girls in the top twenty five places with Charlotte Rea 8th, Lauren Hutchinson 10th, Lucy Quinn 11th and Jennifer Heaney in 25th. In fact if it been a club race we would have been close! In the junior race an injured Aislinn Crossey struggled home in 9th place and Mairead Grant came home in 20th place. Now onto the track season.

Indoor round-up

Late again with reports!! I'll speak to the P.R.O. , oops, that's me!! Anyways, the report!! In the Oddyssey we had a few 800 and a few sprint runner and the very tall Aoibhin McKay in the high jump. Aoibhin jumped her way into third place and will do well when the outdoor season comes around. In the sprints the very dedicated Hollie Halpin just missed a place in the final of the 60 mts but again is getting better all the time. Mairead Grant was, in most peoples opinion, unfairly disqualified from the 60 due to a false start. A real pity this 'cos the heat winner easily qualified for the final! Mairead was a cert to qualify! In the 800's Charlotte Rea and Jennifer Heaney both ran a pb despite both ending up in a slow heat. The seeding system seemed odd!! Last up on the Sunday was Aislinn Crossey and if Aislinn's race last year was a victory for naivety this years race was no better!! Ais let a huge gap open to the leading threesome and despite a storming last lap she came up just short and took home a silver medal for the second year running. The look of thunder on her face said more about her feelings than any words! Next year............Of course we also put in a relay team with Sarah Creegan, Lucy Quinn and Rebecca Gamble joining Jennifer Heaney for the 4x200. The girls ran great and brought the baton home for third place in their heat. Really good against much bigger clubs. At the younger age groups in Magherafelt Lucy Quinn and Rebecca Gamble were in seperate heats of the 600 mts. Rebecca never got round the first bend before a tangle resulted in a heavy fall and a visit to the medical people! Despite some cuts and heavy bruises Rebecca was fine. She got further than Lucy mind 'cos she stumbled off the line, twisted her ankle and before she got into her stride the race was gone!! A brave run brought her back to a credible fourth place but Lucy was here to get a medal. So a grand total of a silver and a bronze medal, not bad but close to more! Next year!

XC round up

Dont know too much about this one apart from the fact that Lucy Quinn had a comfortable win in the Armagh/Monaghan schools xc on Thursday. Her school, St Pauls, also won the team prize thanks in no small measure to our club's latest recruit, and a contender for the "smallest feet in the world" title, Rebecca Gamble, who stormed home in 6th place. This off course puts them on a collision course with the chuckle sisters in the Ulsters on the 24th of Feb!!! Place your bets.......

The Chuckle Sisters

The last two athletes we had running on Tuesday were the club comedians, Charlotte Rea and Jennifer Heaney. Both bluffers were running for the Sacred Heart which isn't unusual saying that they are in the same class! Charlotte has had a winter full of niggling injuries and has spent a lot of track time sitting on the fence as a spectator, and this lack of work left Charlotte exposed over the last quater of the race. She had been holding a good second place behind her excellent school mate Emma Laverty, but she was caught on the run in by another class mate Lauren Hutchinson and finished 3rd in a huge field of 140 athletes. This put Sacred Heart in an uncatchable position and leaves them strong favourites for the up coming Ulster finals. Jennifer also missed a lot of running over the winter but looked strong finishing in 17th place. Both girls head to the Oddyssey this weekend. If they stop laughing long enough we might even get them to run!!

Daisy

Our most senior athlete, if we don't count Rory Quinn (and who does), is Daisy Murray from Warrenpoint. Daisy is from a dubious athletic background, namely fell running! This branch of athletics is more commonly the home to old gimmers who usually have beards and always have a dreadful dress code, and that's the women! People indeed like our esteemed head coach and Daisy's dad, Jimmy. Ah but, it makes you strong and hard! Unfortunately it also makes you more donkey derby than Epsom derby in the speed department! This though is where the aforementioned Miss Murray bucks the trend, this and of course the fact that she doesn't have a beard, as she has been showing quite a bit of speed and has been noticed by the power makers in the fell running community. Daisy has had a good winter and before Christmas finished 12th in the Ulster Champs to qualify for the Irish champs where in a field of 80 starters she took a brilliant 21st place. She too was recruited by her school, Sacred Heart, to run at Delamont this week in the senior race. Daisy ran another class race to finish 3rd behind international runner Ciara Mageean. Top class performance.

Normal service is resumed

Also running in Mairead's junior girls race were Aislinn Crossey, Hollie Halpin and Sarah Creegan. Neither Hollie nor Sarah would claim to be, how can I put it, let's say, fans of cross country but both stuck to the task and finished strongly in the fast run race. Both girls will be better suited by the track during the warmer days. Aislinn also claims to dislike xc and even though this may indeed be the truth she still seems to be quite good at it!! The race settled into a fox and hound sort of contest with the early leader from Strathearn College opening a 30 mts lead by the halfway mark and was running strongly enough to suggest she was going to take a bit of catching. Aislinn slowly reeled her in though and on the big hill smoothly accelerated away for a comfortable win. This was a race Aislinn has twice finished 3rd in so to finally win was a good result, though Ais will know there will be harder days ahead when the track season comes round, starting in the Oddyssey this coming weekend.

A star is born!

Wow Wee!! How does our 60 mts sprint expert turn into a 1600 mts muddy xc star!! With a lot of determination, hard work, belief and a competitive streak that can't be coached would seem to be the answer. At the Ulster School's A district xc in Delamont Park on Tuesday and running for Our Ladys, Mairead Grant turned in a sparkling performance which left this coach and the school's PE teacher smiling from ear to ear!!! Mairead actually led the early stages on the very tough course and wasn't for quitting when passed by the race favourites. She dug deep and clung on to the chasing group until the final long climb when she accelerated to split the group. Into the home straight in 5th place but within striking distance Mairead did what she does best and as the picture shows sprinted for a brilliant 4th place. And this in a field of 130 athletes! Mairead was like a wee dog with 2 tails after the finish and rightly so. She finished 2nd scorer for Our Ladys finishing in front of her much more experienced team-mates and earning her place for the Ulster schools champs. A huge WELL DONE!! Shame about the socks....................

Is there a track here somewhere??

The answer would appear to be "sometimes" at least if this winter was anything to go by!!!

Is hibernation time over yet??

Will someone look out the window and see if it's safe to come out yet!! Is all the snow gone? Is it warmer? Not yet, but its time for your correspondent to start reporting on what's been happening. And the answer is not much!! At least not until this week when we all awoke from slumber to test how the winter training went. The answer appears to be "very well". Reports on schools district xc above would seem to indicate that. Despite the poor weather and huge lack of running by almost everyone the hard work done on our strength and conditioning seems to be working. Nobody has any great speed but everyone is stronger and fresher than before so the prospects for the track season would appear to be good. First we're off to the Oddyssey this weekend for the indoor champs. Should be a good weekends craic. In the meantime here's a few pics of a couple of dedicated athletes and new club mascot Bob the snowman. Funny, he's disappeared..........