Galway athletes were among the national medal winners at the 2022 Irish Life Health National Juvenile Track and Field Championships in Tullamore.
Multiple medals were won by western athletes in the weekend's action, and among the highlights was the performance of Castlegar AC dynamo Lemar Lucciano. The teenager was outstanding as he secured double gold in the U16 100m and 200m sprints, clocking 11.35 and 22.82 respectively, in a superb display.
South Galway AC enjoyed a successful weekend, which started with Amy Rose Kelly winning gold and Orlaith Mannion winning bronze in the U16 250m . David Mannion continued his great year to date winning gold in the U18 400m in a time of 49.73, while sibling Stephen Mannion claimed silver with 50.64. There was also a well-earned bronze for Sophie Farrell in the U18 100m in a time of 12.74.
South Galway AC race walkers enjoyed more more success for the club. They were led by Sinead Maher, winning gold in the U17 girls 3km. In the boys' events, Ciarán Kelleher secured bronze at U14 level, while Seán Kelleher had another strong walk, winning bronze in a very fast 5km race in the U18 event.
GCH won three medals in the hurdles discipline, with star hurdler Evan Moran claiming a competitive U17 300m victory for the city club in a very fast time. Matthieu Madden and Ronan Duggan also claimed bronze medals in their age groups.
Also, for the city club, Angela Cielecka defended her national sprint title in style with a lightning 12.58s 100m final time to take gold. Oisin Keane marked his final juvenile year for GCH with a massive leap in the high jump to finish second in the U19 event, clearing 1.85m.
Tuam AC's race walking squad excelled, with Matthew Newell breaking the Irish record and winning U14 gold over 2km. India Cunniffe won the U15 silver, with sisters Taillte and Savannagh O'Callaghan both claiming bronze medals.
Jack Hession and Alix Joyce crowned the most successful summer season in the history of Tuam Athletics Club with All Ireland silver and bronze medals to conclude the National Juvenile Championships. Hession took silver in the U18 long jump with 6.44 metres, and Joyce wont the bronze in the 400 hurdles.
Caltra and District AC thrower Jack Shaughnessy secured discus silver, while Craughwell AC again secured multiple medals - firstly in the 250m hurdles when Lauren Kilduff ran away from the field to claim an outstanding gold in the U15 event before Conor Penney showed strongly over the longer distance hurdles, winning U15 bronze with a fine 35.81.
Also for Craughwell, Declan O’Connell ran a tactically perfect race from start to finish to claim his first Irish track title in an exceptional 4:19.6 seconds in the U15 1500m.
The story of Saturday was Kai Watters who produced the best start for Galway with bronze in the U14 long jump, and in doing so he cleared a lifetime best of 5.09m to win the medal in a hotly contested final.
Jade Moorhead won her first national outdoor high jump title on Sunday, as she soared high over 1.63 on her third attempt to take the title.
One of the outstanding stories of the day was a superb bronze medal by Dean McNally in the U15 javelin. Dean hoisted a superb 38.89m to win his first national medal.
European U18 Championships: Liam Shaw of Athenry AC finished out 10th in his qualification pool in the European U18 championships this week in Jerusalem, Israel. Shaw threw a best throw of 15.50 metres in the shot putt event.
World Masters Championships: Linda Nally of GCH helped the Irish Ladies' Masters to 4X400m relay gold at the World Masters' track and field in Tempere, Finland, last weekend.
Headford 8km: The famous Headford 8k returned to the road on Saturday with visiting athlete Jamie Walsh from Medway and Maidstone AC taking the honours in 27.05. The first woman was the peerless Jane Ann Meehan of GCH with a fast time of 29.12.
