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.