After the huge success, with six golds, of the Academy’s Intermediate and Senior Athletes, last week it was the turn of the Mini, Minor and Junior athletes to compete at the district championships. And not to be outdone by their older counterparts the younger athletes put up an excellent show. Nearly 30 athletes travelled to the Mary Peters track on a glorious summers day and personal bests, school records and medals were in no short supply.

Top performer of the day was Nadia Radcliffe, from Yr 9, who had come through qualifying for the 800m with the best time and she did not disappoint in the final. She ran brilliantly to claim the gold medal. She backed this up with a magnificent 2nd place in the High Jump jumping 1.43meters which tied the old school record.
Molly Mathers also had a good day. She ran a great race to finish 2nd in the Junior girls 100m and also threw well to finish 4th in the Shot Putt, setting a new school record in the process. Suzy Neill ran a brilliant 200m to finish 2nd and claim a Silver medal. The Junior Girls 4x100m Relay team also won a silver medal with a fine run setting a new school record. The team consisted of Suzy Neill, Molly Mathers, Kelly Gley and Lynsey Orr.

Marcus McNeill ran a strong Minor boys 800m, in a school record time, to finish 3rd and claim the bronze medal. Bethany Nixon, younger sister of double Senior gold winner Rebekah, also ran a new school record in the Junior Girls 1500m to claim a hard-earned bronze medal and qualify for the Ulster Championships.

As well as these medallists, a number of other athletes also competed well. Some of the other highlights of the day were: Ruby McNiff deserves great credit on her 4th place finish in the JG 1500m. Jake Houston ran well to finish 5th in the Junior boys 800m, Kelly Gley finished 5th in the JG 100m and 6th in the High Jump. Julia Knox ran well in the Junior 800m to finish 5th.

Marc Matthews finished 6th in the Minor boys’ discus. But credit must go not just to these athletes who placed so well but also to all our athletes who competed across all the age groups and in numerous events.
All the athletes who finished in the top three will now progress to the Ulster Championships at the Antrim Forum on Friday 19th & Saturday 20th May. With no fewer than 10 athletes qualifying for the Academy in 13 events this represents a bumper year for Banbridge Academy athletics. Well done to everyone!