Amy Foster and Adam McMullen enter the record books as local athletes impress…

Amy Foster and Adam McMullen enter the record books as local athletes impress… (article compiled for use by Athletics NI).

Amy Foster (City of Lisburn AC / David Reid) and Adam McMullen (Crusaders AC / Alan Kennedy) produced record breaking performances as Northern Ireland and Ulster athletes enjoyed a successful weekend of competition (Saturday 27th and Sunday 28th January 2018).

Competing at the Lee Valley Stadium in England, Amy equalled the Irish National 60m indoor record with a 7.30 clocking; fellow NI athlete Anna Boyle had held the record since 2007.  Amy’s time is also a World Indoor Athletics Championships qualifying standard.

Also at the famous Lee Valley Stadium, another top NI sprinter, Megan Marrs (City of Lisburn AC / Jerzy Maciukiewicz), celebrated a personal best performance in the 60m hurdles.  Megan ran a world class 8.34, before impressing further with a stunning 8.26 for the distance.

Closer to home, in Jordanstown, Adam broke the Northern Ireland indoor Long Jump record with a stunning 7.97m leap.  This performance also bettered the qualifying standard of 7.95m for the European Athletics Championships, which will take place in Berlin (Germany) in August 2018.

This continued what has been an excellent week for Adam, following his third-place finish in Ostrava on Thursday (25th January 2018) – the Commonwealth Games bound athletes jumped to 7.77m in what was the best season opener of his career.

Sommer Lecky retains Scottish Indoor title:

At the Scottish Athletics Senior & Under 17 National Indoor Championships in Glasgow (Scotland), Sommer Lecky (Finn Valley AC / Niall Wilkinson) retained her High Jump title with a fantastic season opener of 1.86m.

Irish Life AAI National Under 23 and Junior Indoor Championships:

There were further notable outings by familiar faces at the Irish Life AAI National Under 23 and Junior Indoor Championships in Athlone, Ireland.

Kate O’Connor (St Gerard’s AC Dundalk / Gough, Kerr, McMullen, O’Connor, Reynolds) again impressed with yet another podium topping performance – the ever-improving Mary Peters Trust supported athlete led the way in the Junior Women’s High Jump with a 7.79m effort; this secured a comfortable victory.

Ellen McCartney (City of Lisburn AC / James Alexander) continued her good start to the season with a gold medal in the Junior Women’s Pole Vault after a 3.50m clearance.  Ballymena & Antrim AC’s Craig Newell (Ian Neely) recorded 21.00 for a win in the Under 23 200m competition, while Lifford Strabane AC’s Alan McGinley won the Under 23 1500m in 4:10.78.

There was a double success for the Kelly family, with Finn Valley AC duo James and John both topping the podium.  In the Junior Men’s Shot Putt (6kg) event, James landed a 16.58m effort to secure the gold medal.  Meanwhile, in the 7.25kg Shot Putt, John threw 16.46m for top honours.  Ballymena & Antrim AC’s Shane Martin won the Junior Men’s Pole Vault after finishing on 4.20m.

On what was an excellent day for the Northern Ireland and Ulster competitors, Paul Sexton (Annalee AC), Shane Irwin (Finn Valley AC), Aine Brady (Annalee AC), Shannon Craig (Lifford Strabane AC), Bridget McDyer (Finn Valley AC), John McNulty (Annalee AC), Lauren Roy (City of Lisburn AC) and Naomi Morgan (City of Derry AC / Tom Reynolds) all picked up medals following quality performances.

Full results for the Irish Life AAI National Under 23 and Junior Indoor Championships are available HERE.

Ann-Marie McGlynn wins Raheny 5 Road Race:

Northern Ireland’s Ann-Marie McGlynn (Letterkenny AC) returned to action with an excellent win at the Raheny 5 mile Road Race earlier today (Sunday 28th January 2018).

Traditionally, a large crowd the local road running fraternity travel to the race, which offers a fast and flat course, alongside a quality field.

Ann-Marie recorded 26:44 for 1st place in the ladies race.

In the men’s event, Declan Reed (City of Derry AC) led the local contingent home in 24:30 (9th place), with Conor Duffy (Glaslough Harriers) following in 24:32 (10th place).  The men’s race was won by John Travers (Donore Harriers AC) in 23:38 (1st place).

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