All eyes were on Belfast recently as several young hopefully from the Abbey got ready to compete in the 2002 Edmund Rice games.

The games, a tournament for young up and coming athletes, returned after a period of several years. All Christian Brother Schools sent representatives to the games and the Newry boys were competing against teams from Omagh, Belfast, Glengormley, Armagh and Drogheda.

They were first set up in the memory of the founder of the Christian Brothers, Edmund Rice

Despite the stiff competition, the Abbey boys left with an array of medals, finishing up second in the competition with great performance from everyone involved.

In the 4 x lOOm relay, the year nine athletes shot past the formidable teams of St Patrick's Armagh and omagh C.B.S. to take the gold, this magntficent performance was then repeated in the medley as a gutsy Abbey team destroyed all opposition.

These great team performances were continued in the individual categories with Kevin Dyas, a year ten pupil, in the lOOm sprint, Richard Gilmore and David Hughes in the long jump and year eight youngster, Aidan Gibney in the shot putt, all claiming golds for their school. To top this off, Richard Gilmore won the year ten athlete of the tournament, thanks to his magnificent gold in the long jump and a hard fought silver medal in the high jump.

There were medal placings for other top Abbey performers, with both Sean Bradley and Tiernan McGivem winning silver in the lOOm sprint and the 8OOm respectively.

The Abbey teams continued to fare well in the relays and the year ten team of Kevin Dyas, Aidan Rush, Sean Bradley and Sean Cinnamortd won silver in the 4 x lOOm event: The Abbey quartet of Eoin McGuinness, David Hughes, JohnMcKenna, and Martin Carr claimed bronze in the year 11 version of the same event.

As these results show, the future looks very rosy for the next generation of Newry lads.

Abbey results: