Top local stars head for Championships

Ben Reynolds, Christine McMahon, Andrew Barkley, Jonathan Browning and Peter Glass were all present and will be gold medal hopefuls at the Mary Peters Track.

Northern Ireland’s 110 hurdles record holder Reynolds will be hoping for strong competition as will Christine McMahon a double Commonwealth and also European 400 hurdler, Andrew Barkley the Northern Ireland U20 discus record holder, Jonathan Browning third in the 100 at the International and Commonwealth multi eventer Peter Glass.

The Championships will open Saturday June 11 with U14-U17 age groups and continue on Sunday 19 with Senior and U18-U20 events.

John Allen, General Secretary of ANI said: “The Championships have always been fantastic due to the world class venue. I am overjoyed that we are hosting the event and hope to attract athletes from further afield to provide a good competitive opportunity for our local performers.”

Following the Championships ANI will be selecting a team of approximately 20 to compete in the Home Countries International against England, Scotland and Wales at Manchester in August. Only athletes who compete in the June Championships will be selected.

Tom Reynolds, Athlete Development Lead for ANI said: “This is a great opportunity for our top senior and aspiring international athletes to help make our senior championships a good event and at the same time give themselves a great chance of representing Northern Ireland and Ulster in August.”

John Allen agreed: “We are delighted that for the first time in a number of years we will be sending a senior team to a full international meet,” he added.

2And As Tom has said selections will be based largely on performances at the senior Championships in June, so I hope this will give a significant boost to the event.”