Munster U/12, U/13, U/17-U/19 Indoor Track & Field Championships

Saturday & Sunday were once again dominated by Munster Indoor athletics, and it was great to see the club involved again. What a fantastic day it was on Saturday for Leona Maher who produced her best performance of the season in the final of the U/19 200mts to smash her pb when clocking 27.99 secs to finish third and secure her first individual medal at this level of competition. Leona had earlier finished 2^nd in her heat in 28.46 secs to qualify. Also competing in the U/19 200mts was Lucy Doyle who has made a big commitment to athletics this year and this is paying off with a great performance in her heat to finish 3^rd in 31.59 secs and though not enough to get through to the final she nonetheless gave it her all. Her commitment will no doubt bear fruit later in the track season. Both Leona and Lucy returned to Nenagh on Sunday to compete in the 60mts and again produced the goods with Leona 6^th in 8.46 secs and Lucy 8^th in 9.57 secs in the final of the U/19 event. Well done girls on two great performances.

In the Girls U/13 Long Jump, Olive Spillane-Leane was amongst the 30 athletes taking part and what an effort she put in. After three jumps she was lying in 8^th place and thereby qualified for the final where she had the opportunity of another three jumps. She consolidated her position in the final with a best performance of 3.55mts over the six jumps. Olive returned on Sunday to take part in the 60mts, finishing 7^th in Heat 2 in 9.82 secs in what turned out to be the quickest heat of the competition. Well done Olive on two great performances.

Competing at this level of competition for the first time was Gerard Delaney who put in a great performance in the Boys U/12 Shot. Though a novice at this event he showed plenty of talent, qualifying through to the final and securing 6^th place with a throw of 7.12. What a return from your first competition. He had earlier taken part in the 60mts where a massive 33 athletes took part finishing 7^th in Heat 2 in 10.19secs. Plenty of talent in this young man. Another Shot competitor was Maria Doyle who competed in the U/13 event and again produced a great performance to finish in 4^th place with a best throw of 7.55mts from her six attempts, again reaching the final for an additional three throws. In other years this would have qualified her for the national Indoor Championships, but Covid 19 has reduced the qualifiers to three. Hard luck Maria.

At U/12 level Caoimhe Slevin represented the Club in the 600mts and as with most of the competitions on Saturday there was plenty of opposition with Caoimhe coming through for 36^th place in 2.14.37. We had a trio of young boys taking part at U/13 level with Jack Renehan, David Nolan and Noah Murphy competing in the 600mts and Long Jump. Jack finished 19^th in the LJ (3.08) and 24^th in the 600 (2.08.45), David finished 22^nd in the LJ (3.06) and 27^th in the 600 (2.19.50) and Noah finished 17^th in the LJ (3.24) and 26^th in the 600 (2.16.24). Well done to all four athletes in what is always a very competitive Munster Championships.

Three more days of Munster Indoor competitions are coming up with the Juvenile Relays and U/16-19 1,500mts and U/17-19 400mts taking place on 5^th March and the U/9 to U/11 Championships on 26^th/27^th March. In between those is the County Juvenile and Junior Indoors on 12^th March. Those who are anticipating entering these competitions please ensure that you have contacted our competition secretary Ber Spillane well in advance of the closing dates.