Club Notes 20/7/05 The club was very successful this weekend at the National Juvenile Relay Championships where we brought home three golds out of six teams from the weekend. First up were the girls U9 in their heat which they won easily and also had the fastest time. They bettered their time in the final to take gold in very impressive style. This team consisted of Courtney Ryan, Orna Foley, Orla Sheehy, and Rachel O'Halloran. Credit to Rachael for competing after a foot injury earlier in the week created a scare coming into the event. The boys U9 also won their heat easily and were well over a second faster than their nearest rivals going into the final. They kept this margin in the final for an impressive win with a team of Michael O'Donnell, Sean Fitzmaurice, Diarmaid O'Sullivan and Jack Morgan with Jack cutting short his summer holiday just to be there. In the afternoon the boys U10 were coming back to the Nationals to defend their title which is a very tough proposition for any club. Given that they were third in the Munsters this task looked all the more daunting. But in their heat they overturned the Munster result by beating both the first and second team and also had the fastest time of all the heats. There was still uncertainty for the final as poor baton passing by Leevale in the heats would not be repeated in the final. But the boys came home to win in a tight final with a team of Cormac Coffey, Brian Hill, David Murphy and Donal Mullins with sub Ger Browne providing the backup. These teams will hopefully provide a great future for the club going forward. The girls U13 came fifth in their final and were very unfortunate with their last change over which cost them a certain medal. Their time from the heat would have edged them into third position in the final. This team of Ciara Walsh, Sinead O'Connor, Hilary White, and Molly McGilton have been the most improving team within the club this year and surprised all with their very impressive second in the Munsters in June. Hopefully the girls will return next year to go one better as they are certainly capable of. The boys U17 of David Boyd, Michael Kelliher, Peter Wheeler, and Ben Mc Gilton took 6th spot in a very tough boys final. The girls U14 of Dearbhail Foley, Fiona Reidy, Molly McGilton, Clionadh O'Connor with Amy Jordan providing the backup just missed out in a place in the final as fastest losers by 0.14 of a second. In the National U9-U13 Championships, the club brought home 3 individual medals. First up was Louise O'Connor who came second in the U11 60m. This has been an impressive year for Louise and a national medal certainly justifies her form all year. Danny Pierce was third in the Long Jump and fourth in his sprint final. His heat time was the best of all heats but a rush from the LJ to his sprint final did not help his preparation. Lets hope that the AAI can do a better job of this in future. Ciara Walsh grabbed third spot in the 600m U13 girls final in a very close finish. She was unfortunate to be pushed on the the run in as she was leading the race at that stage. This has also been a very impressive year for Ciara who is undoubtedly one of the best middle distance competitors in the club for some time and she will surely go from strength to strength from here. Congratulations also to David Murphy who came 3rd in the ball throw U10 and 10th overall in the U10 boys Next events are the National Seniors in Morton Stadium this weekend, the Munster 'B' Championship in Riocht on Sunday, Juvenile Combined Events, National B Championships, and National Inter County Relays 29th and 30th July, Tullamore and the National Masters Championships 6th August, Tullamore.