Dalriada have great success at Irish Athletics Championships

This was the largest number of qualifiers that Dalriada have had in many years and the team travelled with confidence after their successes in the recent Ulster Championships.

The first event of the day, the senior triple jump, involved Thomas Hunter, last year’s Intermediate champion. The move up in age group meant Thomas was competing against athletes older than him which was an obvious disadvantage but finishing 4th was a very creditable result and Thomas can look forward to next year with confidence.

Next to compete for Dalriada was Ross Fallows who had qualified in both the 400m hurdles and the long jump. Within the space of an hour Ross had collected a placing in both events as well as setting new personal bests in both events.

The success for Dalriada athletes continued when James Wright made his way through the Junior Javelin competition to finish in sixth place, again, a very impressive finish as James qualified a year younger than his opposition. At the same time as James was impressing, Esther Lear was competing in the Junior Discus competition.

Esther went into the competition as Ulster champion but knew there were several other girls from throughout Ireland who were throwing well. After a nervous start, Esther found her form and was delighted to finish with both a personal best and a silver medal.

The long day was finished off when the boys relay team of Ross Fallows, Peter Wright, Luke Pollock and Matthew Carton finished fifth.

Considering Ross is the only member of the team not young enough to compete at this level next year, things look very optimistic.