Irish Schools Track & Field Championships

Well done to all the young North Athletes who were down in Tullamore this Saturday competing in the Irish Schools Track & Field Champtionships. In the girls competition there was a Bronze for Sarah Neary in the Senior girls 3000 mtr, Catriona McCourt was 6th in the Inter girls 800 mtr, & C McCauley was 6th in the Senior girls 800 mtr.

In the boys there was a Gold for Stephen Scullion in the Senior boys 2000 mtr Steeplechase, Silver for Conor Flanagan in the Senior boys 5000mtr, Andrew Docherty was 6th in the Inter boys 3000mtr & Owen McCabe ran in the Junior boys 1500 mtr. Congratulations to all!

Irish Schools XC Championships

At the Irish Schools Championships held at DCU Dublin, Sarah Nearey and Connor Flannigan did North proud by winning silver and bronze medals respectively. Sarah ran a very brave race to hold on for sliver in the Senior Girls' race. In the Senior Boys' race Connor showed his undoubted potential and shocked many of the favourites when coming in for bronze. Sean Mc Cafferty and Christine Mc Mahon also had excellent races and both finished well up in their races. Owen Carlton, meanwhile, was up the road at Santry representing Queens in the Irish University Championships where he had a very strong run.

Scullion Ulster Schools XC Champ

20 Feb | Results | Photos | Posted by Mark

A bright & sunny day at Mallusk masked the conditions of soft ground and strong winds. Due to the fact that we had a lot of athletes running for their respective schools and a lot of kids struck down with colds and flu’s the number of athletes with the NBH vest was smaller than usual. First to run was Christine McMahon in the Junior Girls. Still a year young and just back from injury she put up a storming performance to finish in 5th place. Antrim District Champion Catriona McCourt put in an equally brilliant performance in the Inter Girls event. Catriona, who only started running 6 months ago, was well up with the pace throughout the race and showing what a star she is going to be.

Next out was our trio of Inter boys Andrew, Sean & Declan. The race was run at a steady pace allowing for the sticky conditions. Andrew and Sean were in the lead group of 10 or so runners, with Declan back in midfield running a steady controlled race. Andrew then had the misfortune of losing his left running spike, but he didn’t let a small thing like that that deter him he took the lead were he stayed till coming into the last lap .He ended the race in 4th just 18 seconds of the leader with the fast improving Sean & Declan 10th and 23rd respectively. The Senior girls, Sarah Neary, Sarah McGowan & Holly all recovering from the flu epidemic which hit Eamon's group, were next to run. All ran well with Sarah Neary finishing in 4th place, Sarah McGowan in 12th & Holly 24th. Not bad for 2 weeks training!!

Our two Seniors boys Stephen Scullion & Conor Flannagan had the worst of the conditions and four laps to contend with. However this did not deter them, as Stephen set of at a blistering pace & by half way round the first lap he was 50 meters clear, with Conor caught by surprise in hot pursuit they poured the pace on and soon were well clear of the field. Stephen moved away to a near 40 second victory in a very fast time of 20.38 with Conor nearly 30 seconds clear of his nearest rival.

Well done to all NBH athletes and good luck in the Irish school's to all qualifiers.

Scullion also produced a great performance at the Irish Senior Indoors 3000m in a surperb time of 8:31 which put him in 6th place. He beat Paul Pollock, Kevin Seaward and Diarmuid Grant. He was only 15 secs behind the winner, Joe Mc Allistair. Well done Stephen!!

Antrim Schools District Qualifiers

A large number of North Belfast Athletes were in action at Ormeau Park on Tues running their Antrim school district qualifiers. We had winners in two categories, firstly Andrew Doherty in the inter boys followed by Conor Flanagan Senior boys both Malone College. Owen McCabe had a magnificent 2nd in the junior boys, Christine McMahon bronze in the junior girls and a large number of other athletes qualified through to the Ulster finals at Mallusk on the 15th Feb. Action switched to Delamont Park on Wednesday for the Down District where Stephen Scullion comfortably won the senior boys.

Stormont International XC

9 Jan | Results | Photos

North Belfast struck team gold at U13s and Junior men at this years Stormont International. Owen Carlton ran a tremendous race to take the Northern Ireland U20 Championship with Conor Flanagan only seconds behind.

Eoghan Gill also had a great race and a storming finish. Andrew Docherty was second Northern Ireland lad in the under 17s. Sean McCafferty and Declan Liggett made up the team. Rachel Harvey was well up in the under 13s and Owen McCabe had a fine run in the U15s.