Big day for young Irvine athletes

Apr 24 2009 by John Woods, Irvine Herald

THE younger members of Irvine Athletic Club were at Ayr’s Dam Park Stadium for the first Ayrshire Harriers open meeting on Sunday, April 12.

Once again this meeting was used as part of the selection process for the Ayrshire Young Athletes team which had a very successful second year last season, once more reaching the Scottish finals.

The competition was keen with nearly 200 entrants – the best ever for this meeting – including a good turnout of athletes from clubs throughout the West of Scotland like Airdrie, Inverclyde and Glasgow.

In addition there was a good turn-out of visiting athletes from Liverpool and Southampton who had travelled up to Scotland for the Easter weekend.

Clubs use this meeting to get a feel of how their winter training has gone and, with young Ayrshire athletes bidding for a place in the county team, it was a very busy day for everyone involved.

Best performances from the Irvine athletes came from U17 man CJ Conor who won the 100m and finished second in the 200m while the ultra-consistent John McCafferty won the both the shot and discus.

The newly-formed North Ayrshire Athletic Club also had a small representation with U11 girl Demi Orr winning the combined U11/U13 800m race in a fantastic time of two minutes 42.20 seconds coming second in both the 80m and 150m races.

Results round-up.

Girls and Women.

U11s.

80m: D. Orr (12.70).

Long jump: D. Orr (3.12m).

U15s.

80m hurdle: C. Lee (18.90).

100m: C. Lee (14.60).

200m: A. Crawford (30.00).

800m: A. Crawford (2.59.00).

1500m: S. McManus (6.08.20).

Shot putt. S. McManus (6.40m).

U17s.

100m: A. McQueen (13.90); V. Conway (14.00); M. Bell (14.30).

200m: A. McQueen (29.00); V. Conway (30.00).

300m: A. McQueen (46.60).

800m: P. Douglas (2.47.70).

Discus: A. Reid (19.47m).

Shot: V. Conway (6.53m); M. Bell (6.25).

Senior Women and U20.

800m. Sarah Munn (2.45.50).

1500m. Sarah Munn (5.12.00).

Boys and Men.

U11s.

80m: Jack Frew (12.70); Logan Craig (12.90).

150m: Jack Frew (23.10); Logan Craig (23.80).

Long jump: C. Neil (2.22m).

U15s.

800m: K. Douglas (5.24).

U17s.

100m: J. Conor (12.00).

200m: J. Conor (24.60).

Seniors and Vets.

100m: Sean Thompson (11.90); J. McGarry (13.40).

200m: John McGarry (27.60).

The Ayrshire team will be selected from the results of this competition plus previous personal bests and current form.

Special thanks to Jim Young and Betty Young, Alan Pettigrew, Anne McManus, Andy Lee, Rosslyn Simpson, Dave Campbell, Hugh Conway, Debbie Hershaw, Karen Strang and Mrs Frew who gave up their Sunday to assist at this event.

Apologies to anyone whose results have been missed.

For information on club activities contact Bill Simpson on 01292 270317 or email billsimpson@uku.co.uk