National 800mts Champion
Runner-Up U/16 Long Jump
What a fantastic day Saturday proved to be for Dylan McLoughlin who was competing in the All Ireland “B” Track & Field Championships in Tullamore. Dylan began the day by competing in the U/16 Long Jump where he had to contend with four other athletes. On his first jump he soared out to 4.98mts which put him in second place. With three further rounds to go anything could happen and for Dylan it was a nerve racking wait. But great credit to him as it took a championship best performance of 5.56mts from the winner to claim gold. Dylan held on to second place by virtue of his huge first round jump and won a national silver medal with 11cms to spare on the bronze medal winner.
Even better was to come later in the day as he lined up for the 800mts alongside athletes from Drogheda, Kilkenny, Boyne, Glenmore and Glaslough. A total of eight boys entered the final each with high hopes of bagging the title but it was Dylan who showed a clean pair of heels to his rivals powering down the home straight to cross the line in a personal best time of 2.13.67 and claim the National Title of U/16 800mts Champion. A fantastic performance from this young athlete and well deserved for all the effort he puts in to training and racing.
To cap a great day for the McLoughlin family, Dylan’s younger brother Aaron competed in the Boys U/13 600mts and in a very competitive and fast paced race he crossed the line in 11th place in 1.57.90. Well done Aaron on a great race.
