Category Archives: Junior

Blistering pace from Harry

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This weekend the McVeighs packed up the new motor, with enough boot space for a deluxe picnic and headed to County Monaghan to Clones for the Northern Ireland and Ulster Track & Field Championships. A new venue, some familiar faces and plenty of new faces to toe the line against.

With each race requiring heats, the Mc Veigh boys challenged themselves to both the long and short distance track races. Although running for under 10 seconds is a new concept to the boys they didn’t disappoint. Harry flew into the finals and took 2nd place overall in the 60m in the Under 10 race as an 8 year old. Connaire Og faced a large field and held his own to place 17th out of 32 in the Under 11 boys.

Next up the boys toed the line in an event they are more comfortable with and with confidence high after his earlier podium finish, Harry went out and showed he could keep that same pace that he displayed over 60 metres for 500 metres without wavering. This proved too tough a pace for anyone to even challenge, winning by over 1.5 seconds to secure the top podium position and to go home with two medals.

Connaire Og showed that training on Monday night has been paying off as he sat close to the main group and finished comfortably within the lead group, keeping a steady pace and finishing strong.

If anything, Sundays outing to Clones has proven that both boys demonstrate skill and abilities across different distances. Keeping their options open as they navigate the different track and field events will inevitably help them both find their preferred events and challenging themselves at this level will only strengthen their current foundations.

Report by Siobhan Grant

Young Harry shows how it is done

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Report by Siobhan Grant

The McVeigh Clan changed their recent Thursday night routine and swapped watching Daddy at Hill and Dale for the home of Athletics NI at Mary Peters Track for the Firmus Fab Five.

With U11 the youngest category on offer and numbers for the 600m event requiring 2 heats before the overall winners could be decided both Connaire Og and Harry toed the line representing Newcastle Juniors.

The race announcer declared to the spectators that young Harry, who is due to make his Holy Communion at the end of the month, was the youngest competitor in the line up.

Looking across the start line of the U11 race, Harry was head and shoulders smaller than many of the other athletes toeing the line. Yet his confidence soared above those other boys as he left the majority of the field in his dust, just being pipped to the post by hundreths of a second to take second place. Connaire Og showed his determined to not be upstaged to place 5th in his heat. Once the results where collated, it was clear that Harry, at the age of 8, had beaten over 25 competitors, 3 years his senior to take 3rd place overall and Connaire Og secured and impressive 9th place overall.

They say the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree, however I have a feeling that these particular apples will grow to be much more spectacular trees, overshadowing the already impressive tree that has grown before them.

Irish Schools Cross-Country Championships 2022

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Tom Crudgington, Ethan McMullan and Yasin Brannigan from Newcastle AC took part in the Irish Schools Cross-Country Championships on Saturday 12th March, in Mallusk. All three were running for Down High School.

Tom took part in the Senior Boys Race, and finished in 20th position overall.

Ethan and Yasin competed in the Intermediate Boys 5000m Race, with Ethan completing the course in 64th position, and Yasin in 89th position.