It was an action packed weekend in the Tullamore Harriers Stadium for the under 12 to under 19 national juvenile track and field championships. The heavy rain on Saturday afternoon and the very blustery and showery weather on Sunday may have wet many but failed to dampen the spirit and enthusiasm of the athletes. With a fine haul of 17 All-Ireland medals (six gold, seven silver, and four bronze ) it was a weekend to remember.
Pride of the county was under 13 athlete Paul Manning from the St Joseph’s club. On Saturday, Paul, having easily qualified for the 80m sprint final, pulled out all the stops to win gold and set a new championship record of 10.12 seconds for the event. Then on Sunday he added another gold with victory in the 600m. His time was one minute 38.46 seconds. The St Joseph’s club had another gold with under 16 athlete Eoin Power, who won the 250m hurdles in fine style. Eoin also won bronze in the 110m hurdles. Jack Saunders, St Joseph’s, won bronze in the under 17 triple jump. The youthful Aoife Naddy, Gowran, enjoyed success in the under 12 high jump. Clearing 1.25m she is now the proud owner of an All-Ireland gold medal, her first of many, hopefully. The high jump also brought gold to the Aughavillar club with Victor Costello claiming the under 12 boys title with 1.33m clearance. Aoife Hickey, Kilkenny City Harriers, winner of numerous juvenile shot and hammer events bowed out of juvenile competition with another gold in the under 19 hammer. Next week Aoife travels to Serbia to compete in the European Juniors. Silver was very much the order of the day for a number of other athletes from the city club. Under 18 athlete Theresa Conlon had double silver, in hammer and discus. Theresa was a little disappointed with her hammer performance despite throwing in excess of 40 metres. Her disappointment was short lived when within an hour she achieved a new personal best of 28.80 metres in the discus. Laura Langton, who travels north next weekend to do the 80m hurdles in the schools international, won silver in the 250m hurdles under 17. Laura seemed to have the edge on the other competitors as she led from an early stage in the race and was still in the lead over the final hurdle but was passed just five meters from the line. Under 15 athlete Cliodhna Manning had a good weekend with silver in the 80m and bronze in the 250m hurdles. Cliodhna’s brother Jack also joined the medal winners. Throwing 9.04 metres he won silver in the under 12 Shot Putt. Another very happy athlete was Sinead McDonagh. Sinead, many times winner of provincial medals, won her first individual All-Ireland when she cleared 1.48 meters in the under 15 high jump. Mary Kate Lanigan clocked 40.70 seconds in the under 17 final of the 300m to win silver.
Fixtures:
Saturday - Schools International, Antrim Forum. Inter Club and Inter County Relays, Tullamore.
Sunday – Juvenile (under 12-19 ) Track and Field Championships, Tullamore.
