All Ireland Masters Indoor Championships
What a day we had in Athlone on Sunday last when the All Ireland Masters Indoor Championships took place. Eight athletes from the club – 6 ladies and 2 men – kept the green and gold colours very much to the fore in what was such a competitive championship where upwards of 800 athletes competed with the programme starting at 11am and concluding shortly after 6.30pm.
Pride of place on the day must go to Liz Power and Naomi Morrissey who stood on the winners’ rostrum, producing personal bests, when winning a bronze medal in the O/55 60mts and a silver medal in the O/40 Shot Putt respectively. This accolade in no way takes away from the tremendous effort of our other six athletes who performed out of their skins, achieving personal bests across all disciplines which would have in other years yielded much medal success. Adding in the fact that for some of our athletes this was their first time ever competing at this level of competition and to produce the results below certainly showed how much effort and commitment the athletes have put into training. The hard work is paying off.
Naomi was one of our first competitors into action on the day and she produced a great series of throws to clinch the silver medal in the O/40 category with a throw of 7.12. About this time, on the inside track, Liz Power was lining up for the final of the W55 60mts and she did not disappoint with a tremendous run for 3rd place in a time of 10.62. Liz also very nearly claimed a second medal as she ran 38.19 in the 200mts to finish 4th overall.
Ber Spillane was our lone competitor in the 60mts sprints for ladies where she finished 6th in her heat of the W35 in 9.12 to finish 11th overall. She then took to the track for the 400mts when clocking 68.93 to finish 14th overall and then completed her individual competitions with a 14th place overall in the 200mts in 31.03. Joining Ber in the 200mts and 400mts was Siobhan Power who raced to 11th place in the 200mts in 30.29 and 8th in the 400mts in 68.08. Also competing in the 400mts was Sinead Tynan who finished 6th overall in the W45 category in 71.68. Brigid Gleeson was our only competitor to run at the middle-distance events where she clocked a time of 2.44.44 in the W45 800mts to finish 7th overall.
Our two men, TJ and Ray, performed brilliantly in their respective events. TJ competed in the M50 60mts to finish 9th overall in 8.86 and 6th in the 200mts in 30.10. Ray was in action in the M55 category running a time of 9.29 in the 60mts to finish 6th overall, in the 200mts came 9th overall in 30.34 and was very unlucky in the 400mts to finish 4th in a time of 69.00.
The final event of the evening was the relays and here our four ladies produced a performance of a lifetime to smash their own club record by over 2 seconds when finishing an agonising 4th place in the 2 x 200mts clocking a time of 2.07.75. Siobhan, Ber, Brigid and Sinead left everything on the track and this was following their own individual brilliance throughout the day.
These athletes can now take a well-earned rest and regroup for the upcoming outdoor championships. Their commitment to training has been enormous and the results have certainly showed what hard work can do. Whilst the athletes have the inevitable task of trying to produce the performances that match their hard work none of it would be possible without the commitment of their coach, Martin Flynn, who has gathered the group together over the past year and his dedication and skills are bearing fruit for the athletes.
Munster Schools Indoor Championships
Congratulations to Dylan McLoughlin who captured the Senior 600mts at the Munster Schools Track & Field Championships in Nenagh last week. Coming fourth in the same event was Jack Hickey who missed out on a medal by just a fraction, being pipped on the line. Also competing was Louise Hickey who ran in the Junior 600mts to finish 8th overall.
Munster Road Championships
Congratulations to Lorraine Healy and Angela Fogarty who were members of the Tipperary Novice team that came second at the Munster Road championships. In addition, Angela was a member of the Tipperary O/35 team that also finished second in their competition. With over 68 athletes competing in the race, Lorraine finished 22nd overall and 8th in the Novice category while Angela finished 24th overall, 10th in the Novice category and 8th in the O/35 category.
County Juvenile Indoor Championships
The County Indoor Track & Field Championships will take place this Saturday, March 16 in the Nenagh Indoor Complex. The U/9 to U/12 competition takes place from 10am to 1pm approximately with the U/13 – Junior programme starting at 2pm. We encourage all our athletes to compete with final names being taken by Geraldine up to Tuesday night. All athletes should be at the venue in plenty of time to warm up, collect numbers and singlets. For those competing in the morning please be there by 9.30am at the latest and for those in the afternoon no later than 1.30pm.
Club Lotto
Winner of €20 in the lucky dip this week were Timmy Cullen and Ray Power. Thanks to everyone who supports the lotto.
Coaching Course
The club will play host to an “Assistant Coach” Course on Saturday, March 23 from 10am to 5pm. This is a one-day course and is open to all those 16 years of age and over. With the increased numbers attending training we need to have more people helping and this is an ideal course for our junior and senior athletes and parents of our juvenile members to participate in.
Upcoming fixtures
Saturday March 16 – County U/9 to Junior Indoor Championships – Nenagh
Sunday, March 24 – County Junior & Senior Road Championships – Templemore
Sunday, March 31 – County Novice “B” Road Championships – Ballingarry
Saturday, April 6 – National Juvenile Indoor Championships Day 1 – Athlone
Sunday, April 7 – County Intermediate Road Championships – Ballyneale
