Shercock AC had a very successful day at the recent NI and Ulster relay
Championships which were held at the Mary Peter’s Track in Belfast. The club had six
teams competing on the day with four squads successful in making the podium.
The Girls U15, 4 X 300M team produced the top performance of the day. Lily Mc Elroy
got the team off to a strong start, passing the baton to Abby Smith in a close 3rd
position. Within 60m, Abby had surged into first position and continued to extend her
lead before passing to Cara Mc Nicholl. Despite the chasing runners closing the gap,
Cara held on to the lead and executed a slick baton change to Eadaoin Lynch who
powered down the back straight, pulling away from the opposition and crossing the line,
4 seconds ahead of Loughview AC, to take the gold medals.
Eadaoin Lynch and Lily Mc Elroy were also in action in the Girls U15 4x100m along with
Eavan and Siún O’Sullivan. As there were 9 teams in this event, the teams were split
into two time trials with the Shercock team in heat 1. From the whistle Lily, Eavan and
Siún ran superbly to keep the team in contention for medals at the last baton change.
Again, Eadaoin Lynch showed her strength down the home straight to bring the team
home in 2nd place. However, the girls had to wait until the second time trial was
completed to have their 2nd place overall confirmed and their medals awarded.
The Boys U15 4 X 300m race was another exciting race for the Shercock AC
supporters. Seán Clinch stormed out of the blocks and after 100m, made the break for
the inside lane in 1st position. Mark Kearns and Tadhg O’Brien continued to extend this
lead passing to Mark Drury at the final baton change. However, Loughview AC’s final
runner, Rus Veikune, the current national U16 200m silver medallist, wasn’t content to
settle for second and set about reeling Mark in. Unfortunately, despite a strong,
courageous run by Mark, Loughview took the lead with 40m to go, with Shercock
crossing the line a close second.
In the Senior Women’s 4 x 100m, the Shercock team (Aoibheann Mulligan, Aideen
Drury , Ellie Rose Ward and Áine Corcoran) got off to a great start. However, a very
strong Lagan Valley AC quartet proved too strong for them and pulled away from
Shercock, to take the gold and Shercock taking the silver.
The Girls U13 4 X 100m team also put in a strong performance on the day. Síofra
Clarke started well and following determined runs from Aoife Byrne and Aoife Rogers,
the team were still in contention with 100m to go. However, it wasn’t their day and
despite Niamh Clarke putting up a gallant fight on the home straight, they were unlucky
to miss out on medals, finishing in 4th place.
The Senior Men’s 4 x400m was a very competitive race and although the Shercock
quartet (Jamie Shanley, Gearóid Lynch, Shane Mulligan and Oisín Murtagh) fought hard
throughout the race, they also had to settle for a 4th place finish.
For most of the athletes involved, the Ulster Relays Championships was their final event
in this year’s Track and Field season and they will be delighted to have finished up with
a very successful day. They will now turn their attention to winter training and the cross
country season which will begin shortly.
