Silver Medalist – U/15 Long Jump
Gold Medallist – U/16 High Jump
Tullamore was the venue for these championships at the weekend and three athletes travelled to represent the club in what are as always very competitive championships. Our youngest athlete was Aaron McLoughlin and he took part in the U/12 60mts and 600mts. Aaron was part of the third of three heats of the 60mts and finished a very creditable 7th in 9.82secs and was 18th in the 600mts in a time of 2.00.01 where over 25 athletes competed.
Aaron’s older brother Dylan competed in the U/15 age category in the Long Jump and 800mts and what performances he produced. Nine athletes contested the final of the 800mts with virtually nothing separating the medallists from the rest of the field. Dylan following a very brave run finished just .09ses outside the medals in fourth place in a time of 2.24.05. Indeed he was just .39 of a second away from the silver medal such was the closeness of the event. Despite his heartbreak he did not let it come in the way of a tremendous performance in the Long Jump. Five athletes participated in this event with four of them jumping in excess of 4.50mts. Indeed Dylan’s first jump of 4.62mts was his best over the six rounds with the other jumps in the region of 4.30mts to 4.50mts. This jump in fact led the competition until the fifth round when the eventual winner jumped 4.76 to relegate Dylan into second place. Despite giving it his best shot in the last round he could not make up the cm’s to claim victory but nonetheless secured a great silver medal following a terrific competition. Congratulations and well done Dylan.
Sean Burke was our third athlete in these championships and he was in action in the Boys U/16 100mts and High Jump. 11 athletes took part in the 100mts where Sean was in the first heat and finished fourth in 13.46 losing out on a place in the final by .24sec but there was even better to come from him in the High Jump. Just one other athlete contested this event with Sean but the competition was on a knife edge as both athletes cleared 1.35cm on their first jump, they both cleared 1.40cm on their second attempts and did likewise at 1.45cm. Sean cleared 1.48 on his first attempt with the other athlete failing all three attempts at this height thus declaring Sean the National U/15 “B” Champion in 2016. Congratulations and well done Sean.
To come home with two National Championship medals is a great achievement for the club and indeed for the families of the athletes involved who over the summer have kept them going at training for these championships. Well done to everyone involved.
