UL timetable - Elverys Sports vacancy - An Riocht Athletics Academy - NI & Ulster Age Group championships UL v Dartmouth v Brown TimetableElverys Sports Job VacancyAn Riocht Athletics Academy Two Glorious Days of Sunshine- NI & Ulster Age Group Track and Field Championships 2008 Two glorious days of sunshine (and no showers) resulted in some great performances and some severe sunburn at the two day Northern Ireland and Ulster Age Group Championships. With nearly 1000 individual and over 1700 event entries the meet was a mammoth task for the officials some of whom put in nearly 20 hours of duty over the weekend. No fewer than seventeen athletes went home with two Gold medals, the majority of which were unsurprisingly a combination of sprints or jumps. It was left to Ryan McParland (City of Derry), Stuart Connor (St. Michael’s Enniskillen) and Joanna Mills (Ballymena and Antrim) to emerge from the pack and top the podium on three occasions. Day one saw McParland triumph in the 75 metres hurdles, the 80 metres and the Long Jump in the 1995 Age Group. On Sunday honours were shared as Joanna continued her amazing season by taking a long/short hurdles double to add to her Long Jump title and Stuart took a sprint double before adding the Shot Putt for an unusual treble. Quality performances were of course not limited to multiple victories. Edward Moubary made the long journey from Chesterfield to put in an impressive display of Pole Vaulting to add his name to the growing list of candidates for the Commonwealth Youth Games in India. Other candidates for this stepping stone to the future did not disappoint with Hannah Lewis (200/LongJump) Ciara Mageean (1500m) Gaby McNally (Hammer) and Curtis Woods (200m) all coming up trumps. Race walking has been in the doldrums in the North of Ireland for many years, over shadowed by some of the World Class performances in the Republic. It was therefore encouraging to see some excellent performances by the North Belfast pair Owen McCabe and Emma Doherty. The performance by the latter was indeed exceptional and subject to confirmation a new Northern Ireland Senior record. Over the two days there were thirty five different clubs and schools who won Gold Medals representing nearly every corner (or should that be curve) of Ulster. With the Young Athlete League approaching the final stages it was interesting to note that City of Derry the defending champions took 14 titles while Lagan Valley (12) North Down (10) Regent House (14) were hot on their heels. Interestingly Ballymena and Antrim who do not contest the League topped the unofficial medal table with 17 golds (including some who competed in schools colours). Full results are available on www.niathletics.org along with entry forms for the All-Ireland. NI & Ulster Age Group Track & Field Championships