Athletics: Success for two Friends’ pupils at championships

Josh Armstrong and Bradley Mulholland, took part in a lengthy competition, stretched out over six gruelling athletics events at the track in Belfast.

The event attracted twenty-one competitors and it proved to be a tight contest across the six events which were the high jump, 80m hurdles, shot putt, 200m, long jump and 800m.

Both excelled on the day in their favoured individual events, with Josh recording a Personal Best of 1.71m in the high jump – the winning height.

However, this is not the first time Josh has been a step above his fellow competitors for, in the Ulster under 16 Athletics Championships in the summer Josh claimed silver in the High Jump with a whopping 1.65m.

He won the triple jump at the Ulster under 16 championships, with an impressive 11.65m, over a metre ahead of the 2nd placed competitor.

While Bradley clocked a Personal Best in the 80m hurdles at 12.37, Josh remained a stride ahead of the rest and won the 80m hurdles at the multi events.

The two athletes performed well in individual events such as the shot-put, 200m and the long jump which kept them both within the top 6 with one event remaining.

The ‘dreaded’ 800m was all that stood in the Friends’ athletes’ way of grasping silverware.

Josh finished in 6th place overall, narrowly missing out on a place at the Irish Schools’ Multi-event Championships in November, while Bradley snatched bronze in total and qualified for the final event in November.

Although Bradley will enjoy his great success, it is nothing he isn’t used to, having just been awarded the Ulster Athletics Council Juvenile Star award for County Antrim in the 12-15 age group in recognition of this year’s achievements.

He was awarded the City of Lisburn Athlete of the Season in the same year for his role in the Youth Development League team competition.