Saturday saw the All Ireland Juvenile age groups track and field Athletics Championships held at Tullamore Co Offaly, hosted by Tullamore Harriers and Athletics Ireland and ANI. Ollie Robinson who has been in great form of late on the track carried on this form with two PBs in one day. He started in the second 400m heat, running in the outside lane. Ollie thought this lane draw may be a disadvantage but after the heat he said he enjoyed that lane since he could run his own race. He produced the first of his PBs winning in a time of 51.38. The final was only 90 minutes later. In this Ollie ran in lane 5 beside race favourite Sean Doggett of Atherny who was in lane 4.

It is always hard for spectators to judge in a staggered start how the race is going until the last 200m. Ollie was overtaken by Sean around 200m into the race, on the home straight Ollie looked to be in 5th position, he did not give up and carried on pushing and upped his pace to cross the finish line in 3rd and improving his PB time to 51.24 coming away with a Bronze and finishing his athletics season on a high. Sean Doggett won the race in an amazing 49.25.

Another EDAC athlete in great form is Anna Gardiner who is preparing for the Junior Commonwealth Games at the end of the month, and was in action on Saturday in the 3000m U18 coming away with a gold medal in her favourite event, on Sunday Anna returned to Tullamore to compete in her less favoured 1500m U18 and came in Bronze position, a great weekends running and preparation for Anna, good luck to Anna in Trinidad and Tabago, East Down AC are all behind you.

International bronze medal for Ollie running for Ireland

It was with great pride and excitement that Oliver Robinson travelled to Dublin airport on Friday to pick up his first All- Ireland kit. He had been selected, from his performance at the Tailteann Games a few weeks previously, to participate in the U17, SIABs (Schools International Athletic Board) Track & Field International Games as part of the Irish Schools’ Athletics Team. Ollie was selected to take part in the 400m and the 4 x 400m relay at the games which were held in Grangemouth Stadium, Scotland the next day.

Prior to this, athletes from Wales, Scotland, England and Ireland had taken part in their respective national schools’ competitions. A very small number of these athletes who do well at their national event, in their respective disciplines, are selected to compete in this international athletics competition representing their country. So Ollie was competing against the best in his age category.

He will be the first to admit that the enormity of the event got to him when he stepped up to the blocks for his 400m race. He had never raced at a track where there was an indoor warm up area or from blocks that were set up to automatically trigger a false start. Conditions were very windy and heavy showers frequently occurred with some surface water lying on the outside lanes. He was running in lane 6 so had someone to chase down. As the gun went he held his own for the first 200m and tried his best to hold onto the tails of the leaders. Although he crossed the line disappointed with his run he realised that maybe he had run against a future T&F star.

The 4 x 400m event was the closing race of the day. Ollie ran the final leg so knew he had a certain amount of pressure to bring the team home in a good position. England were the clear leaders coming into the final leg with all other countries level pegging. Ollie stepped up and ran the race of his life with a personal best of 51.65 finishing in 3rd ,a clear 5-7m ahead of the Welsh team. The games finished with the podium presentations and the great honour of holding the Irish flag up. Next up for Ollie is the All-Ireland Age Group competitions in Tullamore this weekend.

On Saturday afternoon, Mary Peters track saw the Irish Milers Club hold their Belfast event. The Irish Milers club is dedicated to providing athletes and their coaches with top quality meets at which the athletes can excel. All middle distance races are paced to ensure a fast race which raises the standards of middle distance athletics in Ireland. All distances on the track are run from 100 metres up to 3000 metres. From EDAC Seniors saw Catherine O’Connor who has been in great form on the road and over cross country in the past year now turned her hand to the 3000 metres on the track. With warm sunny conditions and a very strong field of 16 runners, Catherine took on the challenge, a fast paced was set and despite being spiked Catherine came in 8th position in a time of 9min 42sec, a great afternoons work for Catherine.

Running the same race, Anna Gardiner coming off an excellent cross country season wanted to transfer that momentum to the track. Anna taking on the senior women new there was slim hope of a podium place, but Anne was aiming to get closer to an elusive Commonwealth youth games qualification time of 9m 40sec , her previous best was 10m 15sec so with a strong senior field and some great junior starlets from around Ireland Anna was hoping for a fast time. From the gun Anna took to the front and settled with the lead group getting a tow from the big girls in front of her. With great support from the stands, and dad Paddy losing his voice from shouting as the fans realised that the qualifying time was in reach as a strong pace was being set. With a lap to go and the clock at 8m 29sec at the bell everyone knew Anna was almost there, at the final 200m mark the clock was at 9min 10sec as Anna went for the finish line, the only thing that could stop her was the lactic acid sniper but her speed and momentum was good Anna crossed the line in 6th position with a amazing time of 9min 39sec, what an achievement well done to Anna, Peter Morgan her coach and the Gardiner family. Next race on the horizon for EDAC is the Cooley 10k in Carlingford

The third event in the fab 5 series hosted by lagan Valley AC was held on Thursday night at the Mary Peter’s Track with a selection of field and track events available. Track distances ranged from 600m for the U11, 1000m for the U13 to 3000m for U15 and above. There were also a variety of hurdle distance ranging from 70m to 100m depending on age of athlete. Field events included the long and high jump, turbo javelin, discus and shot put.

Isla Taylor and Chloe Fleming both competed in the U11 600m which needed to be carried out over 3 heats given the large number of 36 girls racing. Isla came 6th (2.23.82) in the first heat and Chloe placed 12th (2.55.00) in the second heat. Chloe was delighted with this performance and seems to have found her preferred distance.

Alex Robinson tried his first track 3k having only had one previous experiences of a road 3k in the Queen’s race earlier in the season. Longer distance track events are a completely different beast and 7.5 loops of a 400m track isn’t for the faint hearted. He settled quickly into the race and paced well after running a bit wide on the first lap. He placed 6th out of 13 and was happy to take 11 seconds of his road 3k time to finish is 10.23. He should be pleased with his performance and shouldn’t be disappointed with his position given he was racing against a very strong field which included both the all-Ireland Cross-Country champion and the Ulster Cross-Country champion in the U15 age category.

The final race of the night was the combined U17, Senior and Masters 3k race and had 15 competitors. Although concentrating his training currently on shorter track distance in preparation for the Ulster School Championships in a week’s time Oliver Robinson toed the line in this race. It was clear watching the race that with age comes experience about pacing with the more experienced runners hanging back on the first few laps and then slowly moving up through the field. Unfortunately Ollie likes to run closer to the front. As a result he suffered as the race progressed. He finished, frustrated with his performance, in a time of 10.10. His one consolation was getting a bronze medal in the U17 category for his efforts.

Two East Down girls gave the field events a go; Olivia Fleming placed 6th in the U15 long jump with a distance of 3.29m and Isla Taylor, in her second event of the night, placed 7th in the U11 girls shot put out of 21 entered.

Well done to all who participated and to Lagan Valley for another well-run night of athletics.

Now that the cross-country season is truly over the track season has begun in earnest. This week saw the start of the first of the secondary school district rounds, District A, held at Mary Peter’s Track. District A includes so many schools that the events are spread over three days. Thursday was the turn for senior school pupils (Years 4 to Upper six), Friday covered the longer distances for the Junior school pupils (Years 1-3) and next Thursday will cover the remaining junior events.

The senior events are broken down on school years with the Inter category combining years four and five and the senior category combining Lower and Upper six pupils. Depending on the distances and numbers entered in each event, the track races were either held as straight finals or pupils had to progress through semi-finals to run finals later in the day. At the time of writing the report not all results are known.

East Down had four participants in the senior school events and all four came home with medals. Three were competing for Down High School-(Jacob Crawford, James Wright and Oliver Robinson) and one for Assumption Girls School (Anna Gardiner).

Oliver Robinson was the only EDAC runner who needed to progress through a semi-final round in the 400m. There were two semi-finals and Oliver lined up for the first one around 11am in the inside lane giving him the advantage of seeing who he needed to chase down. As the defending 400m Ulster School’s champion he was keen to see his competition. He won his heat and was the fastest qualifier over the two heats in a time of just over 53 seconds. This meant he progressed through to the final later in the day. In the final he was placed in lane four. He had a good start and took the lead halfway down the first straight, never to be caught, comfortably winning in 52.44 seconds. This improved his medal colour from silver last year to gold.

James Wright enjoyed his second high jump competition of the season in the inter category. He was the only EDAC junior who entered a field event. The weather was better than the previous event making it easier for the competitors to stay warm between jumps. James started jumping at 151cm and was delighted to pick up a bronze medal with a jump of 165cm.

Jacob Crawford prefers longer events and so entered the 3k which involved 7.5 laps of the track. He paced well and sat in third place until the last lap when he pushed ahead finishing comfortably in second winning a well-deserved silver medal.

Anna Gardiner was the only Senior EDAC competitor and competed in the 3k. No stranger to these events she paced exceptionally well winning comfortable in a time of 10.14 with a lead of approximately 150m over second place. All four athletics now progress through to the Ulster finals to be held at the Antrim Forum in three weeks time.

Friday was the turn of the junior school pupils with Charlotte Barr and Alex Robinson both representing Down High School. Charlotte ran in the third heat of the year 10 800m. This was one of the events where progression through to the next round was based on time. The winner of each heat got an automatic qualification with the other places given to the fastest qualifiers across all the heats. Charlotte ran well placing fifth in a highly competitive heat.

Alex Robinson decided to try his first 1500m race which was held as a straight final. After a blistering start the runners settled into a steady pace. In a very competitive field he ran well sitting in 3rd until the final lap. He should be pleased coming 5th out of 16 runners in a time of 4.54, a great time for his first attempt at this distance.

Lagan Valley AC Fab 5 Series.

The first of the outdoor track meets of 2023 hosted by Lagan Valley AC was held at Mary Peter’s Track on Thursday night 6^th April. Over 300 participants were present on the night from clubs all over the province, a great reflection on the popularity of athletics currently. The two track events were 100m & 800m with slightly shorter distances of 60m and 600m for the younger runners. Field events included the long jump, javelin, shot putt and high jump. Many of the races were held over a number of heats with final places based on time, not a final race. This can be very hard for runners to judge effort because they usually have no idea of how runners in other heats have done.

5 EDAC athletes keenly picked up their numbers in anticipation of the events. For many it was the first time at a track event and all reported that they really enjoyed the experience and would return for future events.

First up for EDAC was Toby Jackson who took part in his first 60m and first long jump. Given there were 26 runners in the U11, 60m race they were held over 5 heats. Toby place 7^th overall in a time of 9.75 which is a fantastic start.  He jumped 2.73m in the U11 long jump placing 14^th out of 18.

Ben Coffey ran his 1^st U13 100m in the first of three heats in a time of 19.90 and loved the experience.

Isla Taylor ran in the second heat of the 600m U11 race. The distance is shorter for these young runners. 29 runners made up the two heats with 16 starting in Isla’s heat which meant that the start was a mad rush for position. Isla settled well into the race and saved enough energy for a final sprint over taking a few runners in the last straight.  She completed the race in 2.27.52 placing 15^th.

Alex Robinson had a long wait for the start of his U15, 800m race. He openly admits that he hasn’t learnt to love track events yet but was happy to give this distance another go toeing the line in the second heat. There were no staggered starts for the 800m races, probably to save time, so gaining the best line to the first bend was difficult. He settled well into the race and initially was pleased with his 4^th position thinking his race seemed faster than the first heat. In the end he placed 10^th out of 23 runners in a time of 2.23.56 9 (6 second PB). A hard lesson to learn to run to the clock not your fellow runners. He should take reassurance in his current fitness from his first ever Parkrun first at Dunleath Playing fields the Saturday before in a time of 18.40, taking 26 seconds of his previous best for this run and placing 4^th in a time of 18.46 at Castlewellan Parkrun the Saturday after taking 24 seconds of his PB there. 

Kate Jackson was the last EDAC track runner. In her first 100m in the U17 category she ran a time of 15.91 in the second heat and was pleased with her run.

James Wright, keen to hone his jumping technique prior to the School Track & field competitions later in the month, lined up with 10 other athletes. The competition included three in the U17 male category, 4 in the U17 female category, 3 senior males and one senior female.  Although the weather was dry throughout the evening, standing around between jumps makes it hard to stay warm and to be ready to jump. James jumped 160cm to place 3^rd in the U17 category. A good start to the year.

Well Done Anna

All EDAC club members would like to say a huge congratulations to Anna Gardiner on being the winner of the Newry & Mourne Junior Sportsperson of the year 2022. A worthy winner given the year of successes Anna has achieved. The club are very proud of you.