Provincial medals success for young guns

AT the NI and Ulster U18-U20 and Senior Championships at the Mary Peters Track, Belfast, nine 
Lifford Strabane AC athletes earned a total of ten medals – five gold and five silver.

On the Friday evening, in the U15 Girls 1500m event, Lifford Strabane AC’s Elsa Moore, coached by John Craig, was victorious in a time of 4:48.24 minutes, to take gold in what can only be described as a nail-biting finish.

This race had two heats with a total of twelve athletes taking part and this gutsy young athlete was sitting in second position with 60m to go before she dug deep to beat her nearest rival by a mere 0.01 of a second, resulting in a photo finish!

On the Saturday, in the women’s and U19G Javelin 600g, Sarah Crawford, coached by Damien Crawford, took silver with a throw of 26.36m.

It was silver also for 15-year-old Adrienne Gallen (28.35m) in the Women’s Discus 1kg. This athlete went on to take gold in the Women’s and U20G Hammer 4kg with a throw of 47.55m, whilst club mate Áine Marie McBride placed second to take silver in the same event, throwing 39.82m.

For the male throwers, Lifford Strabane AC’s leading hammer thrower, Brendan O’Donnell took gold in the Men’s Hammer 7.26kg event with an excellent throw of 58.48m. In the boys U18 Hammer 5kg it was a 1-2 for Lifford Strabane AC with Jude McCrossan continuing his excellent form to take gold with 50.64m and Ross Henderson silver, throwing 44.40m.

Meanwhile, Ross Henderson went on to take an impressive gold in the U18 Boys Discus 1.5kg, throwing 31.01m and silver in the Boys U18 Shot 5kg, throwing 10.93m.

In the Women’s High Jump, which had six competitors, Lifford Strabane AC’s senior high jumper Shannon Craig was in fine form to take silver, jumping 1.65m. 

All the above athletes are coached by Damien Crawford, John O’Donnell and Sharon Gallen.

Juvenile athlete Orlaith McCrory was also due to compete at this competition but due to her regrettably picking up an injury, she had to withdraw from competing. All at the club would like to wish Orlaith a speedy recovery!

Lifford Strabane AC’s senior woman Claire McGuigan, coached by Michael McKinney, placed fourth overall in the Women’s 5000m event in the great time of 17:33.75 minutes.

FULL STORY IN  LAST THURSDAY’S STRABANE CHRONICLE