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