North Belfast Harriers Junior Report 29th April – 5th May 2024

Ulster Schools Track and Field Championships

It was a busy week for some of our Juniors who were competing in the District B USSAA, Ulster Schools Track and Field Championships at Mary Peters track on Tuesday 30^th April.

Unfortunately, the full set of results haven’t been officially released so at the moment we can only bring you the results that we have, but congratulations to everyone who took part. Remaining results may follow in due course.

Results

Congratulations to Saul Thompson who competed in two of the Intermediate Boys competitions and came away with gold medals in both. Not only did he come first in the 800m but he also finished first in the 400m and achieving a PB. Bring on the Ulsters!! Well done Saul.

Congratulations to Orlagh McCombe who lifted gold in her 800m race and also qualified for the Ulsters. Well done Orlagh. Fantastic achievement.

Emily McRitchie competed in the 1500m race, finishing triumphant over the rest of the pack and taking home the gold medal. Fantastic result Emily.

Cormac Leheny and Thomas Coy took on a savage pack in the Minor Boys 800m competition. The St Malachys duo fought hard with Cormac finishing in an amazing 2^nd place with a time of 2:19:42 and therefore qualifying for the Ulster finals and Thomas closely behind in 6^th with a great time of 2:25:73. Cormac and Thomas’ race can be viewed here. Well done boys.

Eimear O’Reagan represented Dominican College, Fortwilliam in the 800m Junior Girls race. She finished in 12^th place with a super time of 2:56:91, only 12 seconds behind the medal positions. Well done Eimear.

In a very competitive field of runners Cassie Curran and Leila Jones competed in a field of 17 in the Minor Girls 800m. Cassie took the silver medal and bagged herself a new PB with a super time of 2:23:80, qualifying for the Ulsters. Leila came through in the bronze medal position in a time of 2:31:63. The girls race can be seen here. Well done girls.

Leila also competed in the Minor Girls, 75m Hurdles and finished in a fantastic 3^rd place taking home the bronze medal. Well done Leila.

Lorcan McCann competed in the 3000m race bringing home the silver medal and grabbing a very impressive PB in the process with a time of 9:33. Well done Lorcan.

Leah Horan competed in both the shot put and the discus events grabbing a gold in both. Fantastic achievement Leah.

After running Cross Country races for the club and school, Ryan Donaldson dropped down to compete in the Intermediate Boys 200m. His race in the heats showed why he is also an Antrim Footballer as he qualified for the final against some serious competition. In the final he showed us why he is a top all rounder by finishing in 4th place. Fantastic result Ryan. Well done.

Park Run

Waterworks park run – 5K

With the Belfast City Marathon taking place across the city on Sunday, the junior park run at the Waterworks was cancelled. Let’s be honest, the only reason the junior park run wasn’t on was because we didn’t want our young athletes outshining the elite runners from across the world. For this reason, many of our junior stags decided to take on the 5k at waterworks on Saturday instead.

This week saw 12 of our Juniors lace up their shoes and compete in a pack of 251 to complete the 5K park run. Two new faces at this event included Sophie Weiniger and Erin O’Regan. You both ran amazing and should be very proud of yourselves. Well done girls.

A special mention must go out to Cormac Leheny, the first junior across the line in a very impressive 3^rd place in a time of 18:20, and Cassie Curran, who was the first female across the line in 4^th place and who also set a new PB of 19:12. PB’s were also achieved by Thomas Weiniger (22:29), Nola Rafferty (23:32) and Pearse Leheny (25:27). Well done to everyone. Super running.

Cassie and Cormac also recorded the highest age grade % on the day with 83.16% and 79.09% respectively. Amazing!!

POSITION	PARKRUNNER	GENDER	AGE GROUP	CLUB	TIME
3	Cormac LEHENY	Male	JM11-14	North Belfast Harriers	18:20
4	Cassie CURRAN	Female	JW11-14	North Belfast Harriers	19:12
7	Dara CASSIDY	Male	JM15-17	North Belfast Harriers	20:05
22	Lucas MOONEY	Male	JM11-14	North Belfast Harriers	22:14
31	Tom MCLOUGHLIN	Male	JM11-14	North Belfast Harriers	22:28
32	Thomas WEINIGER	Male	JM11-14	North Belfast Harriers	22:29
42	Nola RAFFERTY	Female	JW10	North Belfast Harriers	23:32
56	Eimear O’REGAN	Female	JW11-14	North Belfast Harriers	24:17
76	Pearse LEHENY	Male	JM11-14	North Belfast Harriers	25:27
108	Sophie WEINIGER	Female	JW11-14	North Belfast Harriers	27:00
149	Erin O’REGAN	Female	JW11-14	North Belfast Harriers	29:08
190	Matthew PURVIS	Male	JM15-17	North Belfast Harriers	32:39

Special mention

We cannot pass this week without congratulating one of our NBJ Junior Coaches, Gladys Ganiel, who competed in this year’s Belfast Marathon, finishing in an incredible time of 2:40:21. She was the 4th Female across the line and the first female from Northern Ireland to finish. Gladys was interviewed after the race by BBC Radio Ulster which can be seen here.

We are delighted to have Gladys as part of the team, allowing her to pass on her expertise and knowledge to all of our Juniors. Gladys, you are a fantastic role model and an inspiration to them all. Congratulations.

Future Events

Laganside 10k and Junior mile

Entries to this year’s Dame Kelly Holmes Children’s Mile at the Laganside 10K are now OPEN. The event which is organised by the North Belfast Harriers will take place on Sunday 1^st September 2024. Early bird entry for the Laganside 10k closes on the 3rd June 2024 so don’t miss out and book early.

Click here to register.

Primary School Mini Meets 2024

North Down AC have announce the return of the primary school Minis Competition. The 2024 events will take place at Bangor Sportsplex on the following dates:

Wednesday 22^nd May 2024

Wednesday 19^th June 2024

Events:

Throw (discus on 22^nd May & javelin on 19^th June)

60m race

Long Jump

600m race

Online registration is now open here. Registration on the night will take place from 6 – 6:30pm, events commence 7:00pm.

Social Media

Don’t forget to keep an eye on NBH social media channels for all the latest news and info.

Website

North Belfast Harriers