from Northern Ireland Athletics The Athletics NI Awards took place last night at the Mary Peters Track with guest speaker Niels De Vos from UKA.
Winners inclide:
CLUBS
Junior:City of Derry AC
The City of Derry Spartan’s have gone from strength to strength after winning the Northern Ireland Young Athletes League (YAL) for the third year in succession. At the UK Auxiliary Finals in Birmingham the team achieved its highest tally of medals (26 in total), whilst breaking three NI YAL records on the day. On the back of a tremendous Indoor season (winning 9 All-Ireland Juvenile Medals) the Spartan youngsters continued into the Outdoor season with great confidence and with ever growing numbers. In the Northern Ireland Under-age Championships the Club gained 31 Medals. At the All Ireland Championships in Tullamore they returned home with 16 Medals.
Club of the Year: City of Derry AC
As well as the Junior Club at City of Derry dominating that scene, the Club as a whole including the Senior and Masters section’s have had an equally successful year. The biggest achievement of the year being the Men’s team winning the National League title (Division 1) for the first time in the clubs history. Off the track they had a number of team and individual wins, including NI 5K Road Championships were the men were convincing winners taking the top three places. They had a successful year on the Half Marathon Circuit with the men’s and women’s teams taking gold at the Irish and Northern Ireland Team Championships respectively. They also took a number of cross-country titles including the McConnell Shield and Comber Cup and the Women’s Team won the NI and Ulster Master Cross-country title showing the clubs versatility and ability to cater for all levels of athletics. The club has a great history of organising top class events in the Athletics circuit and this year has been no exception.
Club catering for disabled athletes:
Name- North Down AC/North Down Special Olympics Club
The club was formed in March 2004. With the help from North Down Sports Advisory Council, North Down Borough council, North Down Athletic Club, Camphill Community Glencraig, Clifton Special School and a few committed volunteers and coaches, the club began to take shape. It has grown steadily since its formation, with over 50 athletes from age 8 upwards.
VOLUNTEER
Young Volunteer of the Year (Under 25):
Lyndsey Glover- Lagan Valley AC
As an athlete, coach and now qualified official Lyndsey is a tireless volunteer in the local athletics community. Lyndsey coaches on a regular basis on all Athletics NI initiatives, within her local club Lagan Valley AC, in many local schools and at the University of Ulster. As a member of the UU Athletics Club and committee member Lyndsey has spent time working on Team management, club organisation and fundraising duties allowing the club to grow and support University athletes through an often challenging part of their development.
Services to Volunteering (25 plus):
Gerry Lynch- City of Derry AC
Gerry Lynch has spent a lifetime as a volunteer in the athletics community in the North West of NI. As the secretary and founding member of City of Derry AC the longest standing club in the North West, Gerry has been the lead organiser for all the main athletics and triathlon events in the area for many decades and in particular has been the lead organiser of the Waterside Half Marathon for 28 years. When Gerry is not organising events he is acting as Team manager, local Newspaper reporter and official. He really is a Jack of all trades and a master of many!
OFFICIALS
New Official:Barbara Scott
As a new official Barbara has been an instant success both with athletes and fellow officials. She has worked very hard during the year and is present at every event in Northern Ireland. Her knowledge has developed at an outstanding rate and she is always extremely keen to further this through courses and experiences.
Official of the year: Joy Alexander
Joy Alexander is one of the most tireless officials in the country. As well as chairing the Athletics NI Track and Field Committee, she is present almost without fail at every meet in NI throughout the track and field season.Her roles at these events include level 5 field official at many events as Meeting Director –not only accomplishing her field duties but also dealing with numerous queries and problems in the most professional way.
On top of this, Joy is one of Northern Ireland’s most active Officials Education tutors, and always keeps up to date with developments in officiating through attendance at UKA conferences and also by officiating at UKA competitions. It is hard to comprehend the level of commitment, time and hard work that Joy brings to Athletics, and Athletics Northern Ireland whole-heartedly endorse her as a worthy recipient of the Official of the Year award.
Services to Officiating:George Montgomery
George has been a great ambassador for NI Athletics over a lifetime in the sport as both athlete and official at home and abroad. Although he has had to take things easy of late he is still enthusiastic enough to give a hand at both track & field and cross country & road races with his stop watch always with a smile or what might more rightly be called a cheeky grin for both athlete and fellow official.
COACHES
Development Coach (coaches working mainly in the club and community environment):
Danea Herron
Danea Herron has been the driving force behind the City of Derry Spartan’s Junior success over the past number of years. It is not hard to see that this effort has had an effect on the overall performances of the junior athletes in the club having won 16 Medals at the recent All-Ireland Juvenile T&F Chams and 31 medals at the NI Champs. Although Danea is well known for her reliability and enthusiasm, her technical coaching is becoming more and more apparent as her athlete’s performances reach higher levels every year.
Performance Coach (coaches working mainly with athletes and coaches to a national or international standard): Eamonn Christie
Eamonn is a dedicated coach with a thriving group of young talented athletes. These athletes have steadily improved their performances since joining Eamonn’s training group and in particular his highest achieving athlete to date Ciara Mageean has had an incredible season winning the European Youth Olympic 1500m Final and finishing second in the World Youth Championship 800m in a new NI native record time of 2.03.07 seconds. The other members of Eamonn’s training group had a very successful year with the group bringing 6 medals back from the Irish Schools Championships. With this record of performances behind his group Eamonn is a more than deserving recipient of Performance Coach of the year.
Awards were also give to NI record breakers
Kelly McNeice 1500m 4.10.03
Kerry Harty 3000m 9.09.50
Ciara Magean 800m 2.03.07