No strained relations between coach and runner
Name: Zoe Brown Age: 30 Club: Shaftesbury Barnet/Raheny Shamrocks Event: Pole Vault Zoe broke her own Northern Ireland record in Cardiff last weekend when she cleared 4.32 metres to take the Welsh title. This vault is currently ranked third on both the UK and Commonwealth lists. Her previous best of 4.31 metres, an Irish native record, won Zoe the Irish Indoors in February. She is holder of four Irish titles and has represented Northern Ireland in three previous Commonwealth Games — in swimming in 1998 and in the pole vault in 2002 (seventh) and 2006 (12th). Name: Ben Reynolds Age: 23 Club: Windsor and Bath/North Down Event: 110m hurdles Reynolds broke his own Northern Ireland record at the Mary Peters track last June with a time of 13.49 secs, which would currently rank him eighth in the Commonwealth. He ran 13.79 at Loughborough last month, placing him sixth in the UK. He followed that with a run of 13.63 secs in Dublin, with a wind reading only .01 metres per second over the limit. He was a semi-finalist in World Indoors Championships in Istanbul in March 2012 and has an indoor PB of 7.74 secs. Name: Amy Foster Age: 25 Club: Lisburn Athletic Club Event: 100 metres A student at the University of Ulster, Amy lives in Newtownards. She is the Northern Ireland 100 metres record holder, with a time of 10.40 secs, set in Florida a month ago. That also equalled the Irish record now jointly held with Ailish McSweeney. Previously she equalled the old record of 11.49 secs in July 2011, which had been held by Anna Boyle since 2006. A holder of four Irish titles, the most recent being the 60 metres Irish Indoors title in February. Amy was also a finalist over 200 metres in the World University Games in China in August 2011 (PB of 23.53 secs). She competed in the 100 and 200 metres at the 2010 Commonwealth Games in Delhi and represented Ireland in 2012 European Championships. Name: Jason Harvey Age: 23 Club: Liverpool AC/Crusaders Event: 400m hurdles Set a PB of 50.13 secs when finishing second in Irish Championships last July. He recorded this season's best time of 51.13 at a meeting in Belgium last weekend. Jason is also a former English Open Under 17 high jump champion, with a leap of 2.04 metres. Name: Christine McMahon Age: 21 Club: Ballymena and Antrim Event: 400m hurdles A student at Queen’s, within the last month she has set a 400 metres hurdles PB of 57.63 secs at Loughborough and was second in British Universities. The current Irish Universities and Irish under-23 Indoor champion, she has a 400 metres PB of 54.77 secs. Christine competed in World Junior Championships in 2010 and represented Northern Ireland in 2010 Commonwealth Games with Katie Kirk in 4x400m relay, where they finished fifth in heat in 3 mins 40.92 secs (0.70 secs outside the Northern Ireland record.) honour, passing her a torch, during the memorable opening ceremony, in a symbolic gesture as part of the “inspire a generation” motto.
“It’s quite surreal thinking about it now. It still doesn't feel like it was me. People say to me about feeling pressured into one day running at the Olympics for real, but the way I look at the experience is that I feel honoured to have been considered. To be there with Mary Peters, one of my heroes, was amazing,” says Katie. “Mary has helped me a great deal over the years and I've just read her autobiography which I feel I can relate to.
“The London 2012 experience did inspire me and it has made me determined to race in an Olympics in the future. Of course I would love to make it to Rio 2016, but right now my focus is on achieving all that I can this year.”