Fireflys Fastest Feet 2016

Calum CopeSeven year old Newcastle AC member Calum Cope is a keen and competitive sportsman. So when Calum heard the search was on for the quickest boy in Ireland, under 9 years old, he wanted to discover how fast he actually was.
In an initiative designed to inspire children in this Olympic year, Firefly Foot and Ankle Clinic was offering two of Ireland’s fastest children, one boy and one girl, an all expenses paid trip to New York and the opportunity to compete in the 109th Millrose Games in Manhattan. The Millrose Games are recognised as one of the most prestigious indoor meets in the US athletics calendar, and Firefly’s Irish champions would get to compete against the fastest kids on the block from the Bronx, Manhattan and across New York City.
Firefly’s event was open to all children under 9, affiliated with an athletics club or not, and they visited a number of locations across Ireland, testing thousands of children on their top speed over a ‘flying 20 metre’ distance.  Calum competed in the Northern Ireland heat, held on Saturday 23rd January at the Indoor Track at University of Ulster Jordanstown, running 20m in 3.24s and narrowly coming second by a mere 0.01 second. Calum was then invited to compete in the final showdown against the seven other fastest boys from across Ireland at the the state-of-the-art AIT International Arena, Athlone, on Saturday 30th January. The final race was over 50m and Calum was pleased to finish in 6th position. The overall winner and the Champion of Firefly’s Fastest Feet was Darragh Fahy from Galway who will travel to New York and compete in the Millrose Games on 20th February 2016.

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New Update : Calum will now be representing the NI team in Athlone on Saturday. Best of luck Calum!!

The search is on for the fastest 7 and 8 year olds in Northern Ireland as part of the 2016 Firefly Fastest Feet competition!

On Saturday 23rd January 2015 at the Indoor Track at University of Ulster Jodanstown, 7 and 8 year olds from across the province took part in a 20m sprint between timing gates. The fastest kid on the day was invited to compete in a showdown against the other fastest runners from across Ireland at AIT International Arena, Athlone, Ireland on Saturday 30th January, in a bid to compete at an all expenses paid “Fastest Kid on The Block” race at the NYRR Millrose Games in New York, USA.

Well done to Newcastle junior Calum Cope who came second missing out by 0.01 secs.