There is only one place to start this weeks report, and its not on a wet and windy track or muddy field, but in the refined glamour found at Belfast City Hall on Friday night where the leading athletes, teams, coaches and volunteers assembled for this years GolfNow Belfast Sports Awards.
The awards ceremony is part of Belfast’s European City of Sports 2026 celebrations, recognising the dedication and talent at all levels in all sports. And in the category of Junior Team of the Year the winner was…………North Belfast Harriers Athletics Club !!!!!
More specifically the young boys on the stage were our very own Thomas Coy, Cormac Leheny, Ruarcc Sheridan, Leo McAuley, Lucas Mooney and Tom McLoughlin, although the entire group of the boys Cross Country team – All Ireland Champions in both the even and and uneven age categories – can own this award, so Cillian McLoughlin, Cormac Carabine, James O’Shaughnessy, Odhran Brown, Thoams Weinger, Tanoj Reddy Yakkanti and Pearse Leheny get our own round of applause.
And of course the award belongs to the coaches, volunteers and parents who support and guide these exceptionally dedicated athletes, and it was therefore great to see a select few also wearing their finest clothes and enjoying the night on Friday. Congratulations to you all.
However, one piece of advice – practise your acceptance speeches for next time boys !!
Hot on the heels of this proud award we also now have 2 of our junior runners selected to run for the NI Mountain Running Association at the Inter Counties competition. Therefore on the 14th June Ruarcc Sheridan and Emily McRitchie will head over to Edale in England to compete in this tough event. Good luck to you both !
Before that however a reminder that several of our juniors travel to London this week in Northern Ireland colours to compete in the London Mini Marathon on Saturday. The races will be available to watch live via iPlayer or the BBC sports website, so those at home can look out for our junior Harriers. Good luck all of you and I will see you at the finish line for photos !
But of course our youngsters were once more out in force at the senior and junior Parkruns over the weekend, and again there were some excellent times recorded.
Of particular note at the Waterworks on Saturday Seadna O’Hare Lynch recorded a PB of 22.29, whilst on Sunday Sion McAllister, Isaac Mooney and Kobe McClelland crossed the line 1st, 2nd and 3rd and all recorded PBs – obviously a very competitive race !! More PBs were set by Miles McKinney, Erin McKee, and Eva Mooney, super running by you all. Plus Sunday also saw a first timer – well done Ellie McAuley !!
Another PB was achieved at Ormeau Park on Saturday with Erin O’Regan recording a time of 26.20, great run Erin !
Training continues as normal this week, and yet again we draw parents attention to the disruption that occurs if juniors need to use the toilet during training – please make all efforts to avoid this.