June 20th - Ulster & NI Age Group Championships

Many of the club's juvenile athletes were in action at the provincial track & field championships in Antrim on the weekend of June 19th. There were some impressive performances in the sprints and jumps as the weather cleared from a showery start in the morning to a drier but breezy spell in the afternoon which suited the distance runners. With the top four in each event progressing to the Irish championships there was strong competition across all the age groups.

Gerard O'Reilly went head-to-head with Irish 200m champion Aaron Crawford in their first contest outdoors this year. The pair came off the bend together (right) but Gerard lengthened his stride down the home straight and pulled away from the Strabane athlete to record a win in a new PB of 23.2s. Later on the pair returned to the track for the 100m final and once again Gerard was first to cross the line in a time of 11.4s, having previously set a new PB of 11.3s in the heats. Craig Lynch also impressed in the sprints, becoming the youngest Shercock athlete to break 12 seconds for 100m when he finished second in the under 15 final in 11.9s, one place ahead of Irish champion Patrick McCarron from Glaslough Harriers. Craig went on to win a second silver in the high jump with a clearance of 1.55m. Also qualifying in the sprints from Shercock was Paul Smith who finished fourth in the u14 80m and also won a bronze medal in the long jump. Philip Daly made a successful return to the track with a time of 11.6s in the under 18 100m for third place behind winner Leslie Leung from B&A.

Shercock athletes featured prominently in the jumps throughout the day and there was a double win for Anne Marie Burns in the Junior Womens long jump and triple jump with distances of 4.77m and 10.36m. David Shields was a comfortable winner of the under 17 high jump with a 1.88m clearance and Aaron Heery won his first provincial title in the under 19 long jump and added a second gold in the triple jump later in the day. There was plenty of Shercock interest in the pole vault as a number of the club's athletes competed for the first time. National coach Jim Alexander was on hand to conduct a coaching session for the beginners and the benefits were plain to be seen as many of the young competitors cleared useful heights. James Muldoon tied for first place in the under 17 event with a 3.00m clearance to match his PB. Philip Daly (left) also matched Peter Abernathy's best clearance of 3.30m in the under 18 age group and was placed second on countback. Paul Fitzpatrick achieved a new PB of 2.20m when finishing second under 16 while Ciaran Ward was fourth in the same competition with 1.60m. Kevin Ruxton was delighted to take the silver medal in the under 15 age group with a new PB of 2.00m. One of the star performers for Shercock was Fiona Smith who cleared 1.90m for a new club record when finishing third in the girls under 16 pole vault. It was Fiona's first competition and she looks like a great prospect for the future in this technically demanding event.

The Shercock racewalk squad were also in impressive form in Antrim. Irish international Peter Muldoon showed no ill effects from a heavy training session the previous day as he hammered out a fast pace in the under 18 5000m. Peter swapped the lead with his younger brother James on the opening laps (right) as James was also pushing hard for a good time in the under 17 3000m event which was combined with the longer distance. The pair quickly broke away from the rest of the field and James finished his shorter race first to win in a new PB of 14:32, breaking his previous best by 18 seconds. Peter maintained the strong pace and as he entered the closing laps it was clear that he was heading for a landmark result. When he crossed the finish line the clock stopped at 23:07 minutes, a staggering 1:15 minute improvement on his previous best for the distance, which served as a great encouragement ahead of the upcoming Dublin Grand Prix where he will contest the junior 10km against an international field. Hugh Fitzpatrick took a break from his Leaving Cert exams to compete in Antrim and was rewarded with second place behind Peter. Bernadette Muldoon was also in action in the under 16 racewalk in which she finished fourth to also qualify for the Irish championships.

Sean Smith found himself in a dilemma before the 1500m final as his prized pair of gold spikes mysteriously went missing. Never one to shirk a challenge, Sean wore a pair of road runners for the race and pushed the pace out in the middle laps as the race started too slowly. Four runners were left in contention on the final lap of the combined age groups event and with 200m to go Eoghan Gill from NBH overtook Sean who then responded with a sprint of his own to hold off the challenge of the chasing pack and cross the line second behind Gill. Sean was the first of his age group to finish and was pleased enough to secure the title given the unsuitable footwear he was forced to use. If anyone knows what really happened to Sean's spikes, he would be like to have them returned as they are of sentimental value! Noel Carroll finished fifth behind Sean in a time of 4:39. 

Matthew O'Reilly put in a great performance in the throwing events despite having a heavily bandaged right wrist due to a biking accident. Matthew finished second in the under 16 shot putt using the 5kg weight and also placed third in the hammer.