County Novice Road Championships
Sunday saw the start of the road season as the club hosted the County Novice Championships and with everything going to plan, it was great to see nearly 100 athletes between the ladies and mens events competing for the first time in over a year. Amongst this number were ten athletes from the club with the ladies, once again, finishing on the podium as they finished an excellent second in the team event behind a strong Clonmel trio. Louise Fogarty finished the stronger of our quartet to clinch fourth place in 11.05 with Sharon Cantwell just yards behind in sixth in 11.13. Next home was Aisling Maher in 10th in 12.16, a new pb for Aisling over 3k, with Edel Delaney finishing strongly in 19th in 13.24. Six men toed the line in the mens 6k championship and with over 70 athletes in the field it was always going to be hard to break into the top ten but credit to Liam Kelly who came through for 17th in 22.27 and Jody Sweeney 21st in 22.38. Pakie Bowe finished 32nd in 23.20 while Brian Carroll came through for 42nd in 23.58, Brendan Delaney 51st in 24.45 and John Renehan 55th in 25.20. The men combined to finish 7th club in a very competitive team competition with 15 teams finishing. Well done everyone on your performances.
All the athletes, apart from Louise, can now look forward to Wednesday 14th July in Templemore when the County Novice “B” Road Championship takes place.
National Senior Track & Field Championships
The blue riband of Irish athletics, the national senior championships took place over three days, Friday evening, Saturday and Sunday with Katie Bergin and Jack Hickey once again representing the club. First into action was Jack, who on Friday evening ran in the heats of the 400mts. He ran a very strong race to finish 5th in his heat in 52.69 to the eventual national silver medallist Chris O’Donnell. He returned on Sunday morning for the heats of the 200mts and again ran a very strong race to finish 5th again in a time of 23.32. Winner of his heat was Leon Reid who later in the day was crowned the national champion. Katie was in action in the 100mts on Saturday where she finished 6th in her heat in 12.60 with eventual silver medallist Molly Scott winning the heat. She competed in the heats of the 200mts on Sunday morning with none other than Rhasidat Adeleke one of her competitors. Despite this, she ran a great race to finish fourth in a new personal best of 25.27. Rhasidat had a great tussle with Phil Healy in the final with Phil getting the nod on the line – one of the races of the championship. Well done Katie and Jack, you represented the club with pride.
Summer Games
Sunday next, 4th July, is another big day for the club with the staging of our fourth summer games. Since its inception, it has grown year on year, and this year is no exception with several Irish international athletes and national champions amongst the entries. There is a wide range of events from 100mts to 3k with our two feature races the 800mts for women and the mile for the men also on the programme. Entries for all events have been strong and with our closing date on Monday this will give the club officials the time needed to sort out heats in the events – all athletes have been asked to forward their season’s best time and based on this we will seed athletes into heats. Amongst the entries are Ellie Hartnett, UCD (Women’s 800mts), Caoimhe Cronin, Le Cheile (Women’s 400mts), Lauren McCourt, Bandon (Women’s 200mts & 400mts), Lily Ann O’Hora, Dooneen (Women’s 100mts), Sarah Leahy, Killarney Valley (Women’s 100mts & 200mts), Siobhan Whelan, Clonmel (Women’s 1,500mts & 3,000mts), Alanna Lally, UCD (Women’s 800mts) Laura Mooney, Tullamore Harriers (Women’s 3,000mts), John Fitzsimons, Kildare (Men’s 800mts), Paul Costello, Emerald (Men’s 100mts), Runo Ayavoro, Newbridge (Men’s 100mts), Robert Maher, Galway City Harriers (Men’s 200mts), Mark Carmody, An Brú (Men’s 400mts), Eoin Quinn, Mullingar Harriers (Men’s 800mts), Conan McCaugh, North Belfast Harriers (Men’s 1,500mts & 3,000mts), Charlie Gaffney, Leevale (Men’s 1,500mts), Fionn Harrington, Bandon (Men’s 3,000mts), Niall O’Callaghan, West Limerick (Men’s 3,000mts), Donal Devane, Ennis Track (Men’s Mile), Stephen Fay, Raheny Shamrocks (Men’s Mile). As can be seen, athletes are coming from across the island of Ireland and some very exciting racing is on the cards. The top three athletes overall in each event will receive prizemoney of €30 (1st), €20 (2nd), €10 (3rd) with an additional €500 for the lady who breaks 2.05 in the 800mts and for the man who breaks 4 mins for the mile. The programme gets underway at 11am and further details will be posted on our social media sites as the week progresses.
Munster Track & Field Championships
This coming weekend the first day of the Munster U/12-U/19 Track & Field Championships take in the MTU Track in Cork with the Boys events on Saturday and the Girls events on Sunday. The club have eight athletes competing – Leona Maher U/18 200mts, Aoife Dwyer U/18 200mts, Alana Spillane U/14 800mts, Maria Doyle U/12 Shot & Turbo Javelin, Amy Reddan U/16 200mts & 800mts, Laura Fogarty U/13 600mts, Sarah McGinley U/14 Shot & Javelin. We wish all the athletes the very best of luck.
Newport Track Challenge
Our juvenile athletes turned out in great numbers to take part in a track challenge with Newport AC during the past week. This was a fun event for all athletes from U/9 to Senior and it gave many of our newer athletes their first taste of running a race. Our thanks to everyone involved and to Newport for a great night’s entertainment and some great racing. Athletes who took part on the night included – Oonagh Sweeney, Daisy Lyons, Noah Ryan, Robyn Upsdell, Annie Ely, Emma-Jane Healy, Lily Murphy, Maebh Hall, Orla Costigan, Owen Meade, Joseph Gleeson, Eva Maher, Doireann Quinlan, Anna Concagh, Olivia Daly, Emily Bergin, Poppy Lyons, Matthew Esmonde, Darragh Maher, Fionn Phelan, Zach Ryan, Senan Phelan, Daniel Delaney, tom Renehan, Geoffrey Morrissey, Leo Cullen, Faye Murphy, Abbie Manton, Caoimhe Doyle, Niamh Joyce, Cathleen Cussen, Dylan Delahunty, Bill O’Neill, Dannan Sweeney, Cathal O’Reilly, Rory Gleeson, William Morrissey, Grainne Daly, Grace Deegan, Saoirse Ryan, Kate Concagh, Abbie Delaney, Erin Delahunty, Molly Jones, Ellie Costigan, Michael Doyle, Gerard Delaney, Roisin O’Reilly, Saoirse Deegan, Heidi Maher, Ciara Joyce, Noah Murphy, Aaron Phelan, David Nolan, Aidan Evans, Dáithí Cussen, Laura Fogarty, Aisling O’Reilly, Eleanor Doyle, Padraig Kavanagh, Kate Delaney, Emma Delaney, Dearbhla Gleeson, Ellen Nolan, Alana Spillane, Bill Cussen, Cara Delaney, Amy Reddan, Mary Cussen, Leona Maher, Lucy Doyle, Aaron Moore. Apologies if there are names missing.
Split the Bucket.
The winner of the Split the Bucket for Friday 25th June was Tom Maher, Boulabeha. Anyone interested in being part of this fundraiser for the club can contact Elaine Flynn or Kathleen Maher at training on Tuesday and Friday nights or any committee member. €2 per envelope per draw. Option to pre-pay is also available and option to pay on-line will be coming shortly through our website.
