Latest Club News
Ben Reynolds runs the standard for Worlds Indoors
Ben Reynolds qualified on Saturday for next month's World Indoor Championships in Istanbul. Six days after missing the qualifying standard by .01secs at the Odyssey, Ben booked his place in Turkey by achieving exactly the 60m hurdles mark of 7.74 seconds at the International Flanders Meeting. As a consequence of the Belgian run, which extended his Irish U23 and Northern Ireland Senior indoor records, Ben can look forward to Turkey from 9th to 11th March. He will compete for Ireland at a major senior championship for the first time. The 21-year-old Ben improved his outdoor 110m hurdles personal best to 13.75 seconds last season to break the Northern Ireland senior record and will have ambitions of challenging the London Olympics standard of 13.52. He has already qualified for this year's European outdoor championships in Helsinki.
Ben Reynolds qualified on Saturday for next month's World Indoor Championships in Istanbul. Six days after missing the qualifying standard by .01secs at the Odyssey, Ben booked his place in Turkey by achieving exactly the 60m hurdles mark of 7.74 seconds at the International Flanders Meeting. As a consequence of the Belgian run, which extended his Irish U23 and Northern Ireland Senior indoor records, Ben can look forward to Turkey from 9th to 11th March. He will compete for Ireland at a major senior championship for the first time. The 21-year-old Ben improved his outdoor 110m hurdles personal best to 13.75 seconds last season to break the Northern Ireland senior record and will have ambitions of challenging the London Olympics standard of 13.52. He has already qualified for this year's European outdoor championships in Helsinki.
ParkRun - 18th Feb
It was perfect for running in the morning with the sun shining, a chilly wind and a crisp 5º or so and fast times were on the cards. With no local competing races, there were 8 runners from North Down AC among the 128 finishers at Victoria Park. With a further 179 at the Waterworks, it is perhaps appropriate that the 3rd ParkRun venue at Queens Playing Fields opens next week. At Victoria Park, Ryan Holt of Willowfield was 1st in a new course record of 16:00 min with North Down men in the nest 4 places. Francis Marsh ran 16:47, Alex Donald 17:26 (steady pacing to protect achilles), Dennis Scott 17:32 ( a new pb), Mark Weir 17:54 (first time at a ParkRun). Not to be outdone, the girls included 1st placed Rachel Gibson in 20:23, 4th Marie Devine in 23:43 and pb's by Kathy Graham (24:21) and Zoe Illingworth (25:20).
It was perfect for running in the morning with the sun shining, a chilly wind and a crisp 5º or so and fast times were on the cards. With no local competing races, there were 8 runners from North Down AC among the 128 finishers at Victoria Park. With a further 179 at the Waterworks, it is perhaps appropriate that the 3rd ParkRun venue at Queens Playing Fields opens next week. At Victoria Park, Ryan Holt of Willowfield was 1st in a new course record of 16:00 min with North Down men in the nest 4 places. Francis Marsh ran 16:47, Alex Donald 17:26 (steady pacing to protect achilles), Dennis Scott 17:32 ( a new pb), Mark Weir 17:54 (first time at a ParkRun). Not to be outdone, the girls included 1st placed Rachel Gibson in 20:23, 4th Marie Devine in 23:43 and pb's by Kathy Graham (24:21) and Zoe Illingworth (25:20).
English xc leagues 11 Feb
Lauren Scott placed 7th (for Birchfield) in the Midland Women's XC league at Cheltenham, while Michael Dyer came 25th (for Herne Hill) in the Surrey League div 1 at Wimbledon Common. Both races had fields of 158 finishers.
Lauren Scott placed 7th (for Birchfield) in the Midland Women's XC league at Cheltenham, while Michael Dyer came 25th (for Herne Hill) in the Surrey League div 1 at Wimbledon Common. Both races had fields of 158 finishers.
Ben takes centre stage on Day 2 at Odyssey
Alan Kennedy followed up on his triple jump win in the Irish Indoor Championships by winning silver in the long jump on Day 2 ot the Championships at the Odyssey Arena on Sunday. However Sunday belonged to Ben Reynolds who was the outright winner of the Athlete of the Meeting Award for his performance at 60m hurdles. Already the Irish U23 record holder and by our reckoning the holder of the uncollated Northern Ireland indoor record, Ben, who recently qualified to compete for Ireland rather than GB, twice ran inside that time, ahead of Vilian Papso of Slovakia and Senior record holder Peter Coghlan. In a somewhat bizarre semi final in which no one was eliminated, Ben won in 7.85 sec and followed with 7.75 secs in the final proper. Agonisinly this was a hundredth of a second off the qualifying time for the Word Championships in Istanbul in a fortnights time but Ben hopes to race again in Belgium next week.
Alan Kennedy followed up on his triple jump win in the Irish Indoor Championships by winning silver in the long jump on Day 2 ot the Championships at the Odyssey Arena on Sunday. However Sunday belonged to Ben Reynolds who was the outright winner of the Athlete of the Meeting Award for his performance at 60m hurdles. Already the Irish U23 record holder and by our reckoning the holder of the uncollated Northern Ireland indoor record, Ben, who recently qualified to compete for Ireland rather than GB, twice ran inside that time, ahead of Vilian Papso of Slovakia and Senior record holder Peter Coghlan. In a somewhat bizarre semi final in which no one was eliminated, Ben won in 7.85 sec and followed with 7.75 secs in the final proper. Agonisinly this was a hundredth of a second off the qualifying time for the Word Championships in Istanbul in a fortnights time but Ben hopes to race again in Belgium next week.
Irish Indoors & Ulster Age Groups - Day 1
Oliver Wakefield in the NI & Ulster Age Group Championships and Alan Kennedy in the Irish Senior Indoor Championships were the stand-out performers for North Down on Day 1 of the Irish Indoors at the Odyssey Arena on Saturday. Oliver won the first event of the morning, the U14 long jump, with 4.91m to collect the first medal awarded by Sports Minister Carál NíChuilín. Oliver followed with two blistering races at 60m hurdles winning the semi in 9.61 sec and the final in 9.36 sec - 10th in the UK U15 rankings and the best this year by a 13 year old. Alan closed the first day by winning the last event, the Senior Mens triple jump. He opened with an indoor pb of 14.98m which proved to be the winning jump.
Oliver Wakefield in the NI & Ulster Age Group Championships and Alan Kennedy in the Irish Senior Indoor Championships were the stand-out performers for North Down on Day 1 of the Irish Indoors at the Odyssey Arena on Saturday. Oliver won the first event of the morning, the U14 long jump, with 4.91m to collect the first medal awarded by Sports Minister Carál NíChuilín. Oliver followed with two blistering races at 60m hurdles winning the semi in 9.61 sec and the final in 9.36 sec - 10th in the UK U15 rankings and the best this year by a 13 year old. Alan closed the first day by winning the last event, the Senior Mens triple jump. He opened with an indoor pb of 14.98m which proved to be the winning jump.
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