Ulster Schools Multi-Events 16/09
Fri 17 September 2010--admin
The track season isn’t quite over yet, as many Lisburn athletes were competing yesterday at Bangor in showery and blustery conditions at the Ulster Schools Multi-Event Championships. After much success at the recent N. Ireland age group champs there was hope of many medals and qualifying places (top 4) for the Irish Schools championships in Dublin on Saturday week. As ever in combined events competitions there was plenty of drama but ultimately much success for the City of Lisburn squad.
Anna McImoyle may be small in stature but she has the heart of a lion when it comes to these competitions and she had to dig deep to take gold in the Junior Girls age group. Consistently strong across all events with particularly good performances in her speciality hurdles and high jump, she still found herself in 2nd with just the 800m to go. A 120 point deficit meant she would would have to defeat her main rival by some 12 seconds in the final race and with a great effort produced a 2m 42s effort which was enough to take the title.
Behind her Erin Quinn was just one place away from Irish Schools qualification but was happy with PB’s in Long Jump at 4.71m and High Jump at 1.32m. Kathryn Case was in a qualifying position until the last event after PB’s in the opening hurdles in 13.5s and Shot with 7.68m and ultimately finished just behind Erin in 6th. Erin and Kathryn are both eligible for this age-group next year when they will be very competitive.
In the Inter Girls event hot favourite Libby Rose was never troubled as she cruised to a straightforward pentathlon victory. This included her best ever Shot series with all throws over 9 metres and a best of 9.19m and also a consistent long jump series with all legal jumps within a few centimetres of her 5.01m PB. She will take confidence from these performances into the Irish Schools at Santry.
The Senior Girls title also went to a Lisburn athlete meaning a clean sweep of wins on the girls side of things, although not before a few twists and turns. N. Ireland Junior Heptathlon champion Karyn Dumigan looked like the athlete to beat but suffered the misfortune of 3 fouls in the long jump when well placed to take overall victory. This opened the door for another couple of Lisburn athletes with Sylvia Rose, who was looking in good form with a big shot PB of 7.41m early in the day and Sarah McIlmoyle now battling for the gold. This also came down to the final 800m race where a strong run by Sylvia made it double gold for the Rose sisters with Sarah taking a good silver. Karyn bravely battled on for bronze and will be looking to make amends at the Irish Schools.
In the Intermediate Boys, Adam Hill opened with a sharp performance in the 100m hurdles which looked quicker than the 15.5s hand time he was officially awarded. He threw close to his best in the Shot, jumped well in difficult conditions and managed a 200m PB en route to 4th place overall with his Irish Schools place secure.
Congratulations to all the City of Lisburn athletes on their fine performances and good luck to Anna, Libby, Sylvia, Sarah, Karyn and Adam on Saturday week when we hope some medals will be brought home!