Highlights from the UK School Games will be aired on Channel 4 on 21 September at 7.30am and 28 September at 7.35am
Talent shines at 2008 UK School Games
The third UK School Games, which took place in Bristol and Bath from the 28 – 31 August, were a huge success for competitors from Northern Ireland as they brought home a total of 23 medals.
The Games, an exciting initiative designed to encourage more young people to take part in sport and provide them with the experience of being involved in a major multi-sport competitive event, saw our local athletes battling for honours among 1500 competitors in nine sports.
Northern Ireland provided a spirited team of boys and girls to compete in each of the nine sports; badminton, judo, volleyball, athletics, swimming, gymnastics, table tennis, fencing and hockey. Overall there were great individual and team performances from many …
The swimming team had an all Ireland team dimension with competitors from both North and South. The team picked up seven medals in total with one gold, two silver and four bronze medals. Laurence McGivern produced an outstanding performance in the Men’s MD 100m freestyle in a time of 1minute 8seconds to claim silver and Bethany Carson claimed bronze in the Women’s 400m freestyle.
The Northern Ireland Athletic Squad didn’t disappoint either with Joanna Mills, Curtis Woods and Ciara Mageean all picking up gold. Joanna dominated the Women’s 300m in a time of 39.25seconds and Curtis Woods stormed to gold in a time of 48.07seconds while Ciara Mageean produced a powerful display of endurance running winning the 1500m in 4min 21seconds. Gabby McNally won silver in the Women’s Hammer with a distance of 45.96m a result that is sure to please as last year she picked up bronze. Christine McMahon also took home silver completing the 300m Hurdles in 43.23.
Curtis Woods who won gold
The Northern Ireland Fencing Team added to the medal tally with Grace O’Connell winning gold in the individual Sabre, and three silver medals and one bronze being brought home. The silver medals resulted from Michael Salter’s excellent performance in the individual Sabre, the Boys team Epee and the Girls team Sabre event with the bronze medal picked up by David Burnside in the individual epee.
In badminton Sinead Chambers and Ruth Doddis claimed silver in the Girls Doubles.
There was also success for our hockey competitors as they made their debut in the Games with both the Boys and Girls teams bringing home silver medals in some very hard fought matches.
Judo won six bronze medals in total with superb performances from Matthew Rooney (55kg), Sean O’Doherty (73kg), Kirsty Kee (48kg), Lucinda Bell (48kg), Christina Ermongkonchai (52kg), and Gemma Reynolds (57kg).
Chair of Sport Northern Ireland, Dominic Walsh, congratulated the competitors on their performances:
“These great results demonstrate the future generation of sporting stars developing in Northern Ireland and Ireland and their capabilities. A competition of this style is a benchmark for aspiring athletes to work towards, as well as providing a great experience for them to build upon for their sporting careers. As the lead agency for developing sport in Northern Ireland we are committed to raising the standards of sporting excellence through investment in the governing bodies of sport to ensure the development of young athletes, and I was delighted to hear of these brilliant results”.
