Grace Carson strikes Gold at British & Irish Junior Mountain Running Championships!

British & Irish Junior Mountain Running Championships 2018:

Young Mid Ulster AC athlete Grace Carson produced the performance of the weekend as Junior Mountain runners from Northern Ireland picked up medals at the British & Irish Junior Mountain Running Championships in County Wicklow (Ireland) this weekend (Saturday 8th September 2018).

Talented Grace Carson, a podium regular on the senior scene, collected gold after dominating the Under 20 race from the off, eventually breaking the tape nearly two minutes clear of her nearest rival.

Sorcha Mullan of Omagh Harriers added another individual medal when, despite taking a heavy fall, she secured an impressive third place behind Welsh athlete Sarnia Jones and Scotland’s Pippa Carcas, who took the top two places respectively.

The Under 20 men’s team of Tony McCambridge (St Malachys AC), Conall McClean (St Malachys AC), Jared Martin (Scrabo Striders) and Oisin Brennan (Springwell RC) claimed a bronze medal in the team competition.

These notable performances represent the best results achieved by Northern Ireland teams in the 22 year history of this competition, which is just reward for the efforts being put into the development of junior athletes by the Northern Ireland Mountain Running Association (NIMRA) junior team headed by Phil Hodge.

Athletics NI have recently been working closely with NIMRA and we look forward to planning the programme for the next few years as we support the development of this group of athletes within the endurance event group as well as on the mountains.

Director of Coaching and Athlete Development, Jackie Newton, commented “I would like to extend my congratulations to all team members and especially to Phil Hodge who has been managing this project for the past few years. The team were thoroughly prepared for this competition and the results speak for themselves. They attended a training camp at the venue two weeks ago where effective training and educational sessions were delivered to prepare for this competition and for the athletes’ future development. We are inspired by their performances, attitude and commitment. Many of these athletes have several years left in this age group and we are excited about the future.”

Note:  Article compiled for use by Athletics NI.

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