An All Ireland final for the young girls of Newcastle AC.
By PJ McCrickard

After the fantastic efforts of two weeks ago in Co Cavan the under 10 girls from Newcastle AC travelled to Co Cork for the AAI juvenile U11 team All Ireland track and field Championship Finals. This year the finals where held in the superb facilities of the Cork Institute of  Technology in the city of Cork. The 4 strong girls team that travelled to Cork was made up of Kate McCauley, Eve Kennelly, Hannah Carson and Amy McCrickard. Continue reading →

Congratulations to Patrick Sheridan who brought home 2 medals from the NI & Ulster U14-U17 Track and Field Championships which took place at the Antrim Forum.
On Saturday morning Patrick set a new PB in the U16B 800m heats of 2:14.05 which put him through to the final.  On Saturday afternoon he won bronze in the final and set another PB of 2:10.08! On Sunday Patrick was back at Antrim for the U17B 3000m race. He collected a silver medal with a fantastic time of 9:59.29. Patrick has now qualified for the All Ireland Championships in Tullamore, Co. Offaly in July.

3 other juniors also competed at the Championships. See junior section for complete report.

The sun comes out as Newcastle AC shine at the NI and Ulster Track and Field U9-U13 Championships.
by PJ McCrickard

It was an early start on Saturday morning for the 27 young athletes and their parents from Newcastle AC, as they headed south to the small Cavan town of Shercock to perform in the clubs first major junior track and field event.

All the young athletes have been working with their coaches tirelessly since the team trials were held back in early May and their efforts were not in vain as all the hard work and extra training sessions in good weather and bad, paid dividends. The team came home with 1 gold, 1 silver and 6 bronze medals in what turned out to be a very competitive NI and Ulster Championship.  With athletes travelling from all over Ulster trying to achieve qualification for the All Ireland Championship this really was a quality event and one that is held in the highest regards in the athletics calendar. Continue reading →

A special report by Joe McCann

Newcastle and East Down celebrate the success of the McGrady Financial Services Junior Cross Country Series

A large, knowledgeable and appreciative crowd packed into the Assembly Hall of Shimna College on Monday 12th March to celebrate the success of the athletes who had competed so valiantly over the six races in the McGrady Financial Services Junior Cross Country Series. In fact such was the turn out that emergency chairs were sought, no doubt part of the job description of every Vice Principal! Continue reading →

A great night was had by our juniors at the McGrady Financial Services Junior Cross Country prize giving presentation night at Shimna College. Thanks to PJ McCrickard for the fantastic prizes provided by his company. Thanks also to guest speakers Deon McNeilly and Ian Brannigan who provided inspiring talks for all those present.
Lots of photos are now available and report is coming soon.

If you missed the presentation last night you can listen to talk from Deon here and from Ian here.

Report by Joe McCann

The torrential rain did nothing to dampen the enthusiasm of the many young athletes who turned up to register for Race 1 of the 2011-12 Newcastle AC and East Down AC Cross Country Series, proudly sponsored by McGrady Financial Services. The coaches turned up at 11.45 to begin marking the course, setting up the entries and were greeted with a downpour. Eugene McCann remained philosophical, ruminating on the sudden precipitation before exclaiming, ‘it might fair up.’ Everyone knows that this man is famed for his sagacity, but on this occasion he got it horribly wrong! Continue reading →