| ATHLETIC SITES |
| The athletic site featured on the background is the Mary Peter's Track at Upper Malone in Belfast. The track is named after Mary Peters (surprise, surprise) the Olympic Pentathlon Champion in Munich 1972. On her return from Munich a fund was set up by the Belfast Telegraph newspaper and with subscriptions from the public, Government and many other sporting organisations the new track was laid on the site of the Queens University Track which was sorely in need of repair. I watched the track being laid and my squad were training on it within days and long before the markings went down. It has been the venue for my coaching group ever since. The photgraph was taken during the Northen Ireland Relay Championships, sometime in the late seventies. Victor Lester of Co. Antrim is about to be passed by yours truly in the colours of Annadale Striders. The guy in the red to the left is Bobby Hanna, now my teaching colleague and marathon partner. Since the opening of the track it has hosted not only the Northern Ireland Championships but several major invitation meetings featuring the likes of Steve Ovett, Zola Budd and Ed Moses. Probably the best race ever seen on the track (apart from my various victories) was the epic Womens 800 metres in which Kratocvilova beat Kirsty Wade, the latter setting British Record figures. The Track now houses the headquarters of the Northern Ireland Athletic Federation with offices and changing facilities as well as conference room named after the former British Team Manager and Secreatary of the NIAAA, Les Jones. The track was due for refurbishment in July 2002 but this has not been put on the long finger. There is however a new Discus/Hammer cage. |