In contrasting weather conditions our juvenile athletes participated in the County Track and Field championships in Templemore on Saturday and Sunday and our 48 young athletes did the club proud, wearing the green and gold with pride to come away with a total of 26 individual medals and 1 set of relay medals and this could have even been more with fourth and fifth places occupied by many of our athletes over the two days of competition.
U/13-U/19
The weather conditions for the 15 athletes who travelled on Saturday was more akin to a winter’s day with a strong cold wind under cloudy skies facing the athletes as the ran, jumped and threw throughout the day. Emerging as the top performer was Dylan McLoughlin who won triple gold in the U/16 1,500mts (5.00.05), Long Jump (4.78) and Triple Jump (9.76) and also collecting a silver medal in the 800mts (2.50.00). Gold medal wins also came the way of Aoife Dwyer in the Girls U/14 High Jump (1.30), Gavin Ryan in the Boys U/15 1,500mts (5.15), Emma Gleeson in the Girls U/15 High Jump (1.20) and Brian O’Callaghan in the Boys U/17-U/19 High Jump (1.40). Winning Silver medals were Aisling Dwyer in the Girls U/16 200mts (30.82), Jack Hickey in the Boys U/17-U/19 100mts (12.32) and Sean Burke in the Boys U/17-U/19 Javelin (2.86). These three athletes also won bronze medals in the Girls U/16 100mts (15.20), Boys U/17-U/19 200mts (24.54) and Boys U/17-U/19 400mts (64.61) and Shot Putt (7.93) respectively. Also amongst the bronze medals were Louise Hickey who won a hat-trick of medals in the Girls U/13 60mts hurdles (12.61), 80mts and 600mts (2.01.14), Cathy Hogan in the Girls U/15 Long Jump (4.18) and Eanna Guilfoyle in the Boys U/15 Long Jump (3.90). To round off a great day for these athletes the Girls U16 relay team finished second with Aisling Dwyer, Shannon Boland, Emma Gleeson and Cathy Hogan crossing the line in a time of 58.99secs. Well done to all of the above athletes on their medal winning performances but we also had Tara Gleeson, Liam Ryan and Aaron McLaughlin in action at U/13 level and despite good performances from all three they did not make it to the winners podium but we are nonetheless proud of their efforts on the day.
U/9-U/12
What a contrast in weather conditions that faced our athletes on Sunday. Off went the coats and hats and on came the sunscreen and shades as our 33 young athletes faced into a baptism of fire with at least 13 of them competing at this level of competition for the first time. What a daunting prospect for all of our athletes and the parents looking on but to their credit they took the event in their stride and the club came home with a further 5 championship medals and could have made it more as we had more athletes reaching finals and finishing fourth and fifth in other events. Alana Spillane was our lone gold medallist and what a performance she gave in the Girls U/10 500mts with a race of pure grit and determination to win the event in 1.46.39. Sean Boland had a great competition in the Boys U/10 Long Jump and his leap of 3.21 was good enough to win the silver medal falling short of the gold by just .27 of a cm. Our bronze medal winners were Saoirse Doran and David Doyle. Saoirse left nothing on the track in the Girls U/11 600mts to cross the line in a time of 2.10.09 while David collected his medals in the Boys U/12 60mts hurdles recording a time of 12.90 secs and the High Jump with a leap of 1.15 just .1 of a cm away from gold. With many competitive events on Sunday all our athletes gave it their best and it won’t be long before many of following visit the winner’s podium – Jack Guilfoyle, Aidan Burke, Rogan Lyons, Christopher Dunne, Maria Doyle, Ciara Joyce, Niamh Gleeson, Olive Spillane Leane, Ruth Phelan, Aoibhin O’Dwyer, Eleanor Doyle, Reiltin Morrissey, Jack Reddan, Sarah McGinley, Dearbhla Gleeson, Maebh Leahy, Abbie Davy, Isobel Jones, Frank Doyle, Adam Spillane Leane, Fred Power, Jack Gleeson, Jack Flanagan, Adam Phelan, Lorcan Burke, John Delaney, Cormac Burke, Cathal Guilfoyle and Amy Reddan.
We must complement all 48 athletes on their performances over the two days of competition and our thanks to all the parents for their support over these days. The athletes certainly enjoy the support.
