Last week-end in Tullamore the National Track & Field Championships took place.  We had several athletes attending and overall in this very tough competition they acquitted themselves very well.

 

Once again, Claire Fitzgerald put in an outstanding performance to take Gold Medals in three Girls U-16 events.  First victory came in the Javelin on Saturday morning which was followed later in the evening with the Discus.  Considering that the weather was wet and windy on Saturday, Claire's throws were excellent and enabled her to secure in the end comfortable victories in both events.  On the following day, with conditions again detrimental to good throwing, Claire was able to record a good distance to take the Gold.  Well done Claire.

 

Our two other medal winners were Karen O'Connor who took Bronze in the U-18 Discus and Robert Sugrue who also took Bronze in the U-18 400m Hurdles.  Karen has been a consistent performer in her event and her success was well merited.  Robert is new to the longer distance Hurdles but he performed very well holding off in the final a strong challenge for the Bronze medal.  Well done to both of you.

 

Our other athletes performed very well although not achieving medal success.  David Boyd made the finals of the U-18 100m and 200m as did Jamie Burns in the U-15 200m.  Danny O'Connor also made the finals of the U-15 300m Hurdles and Andrew Kearney was in the top six in the U-16 High Jump.  Again all of these performances have to be judged against the top class competition which is always present at these championships and they can be the foundations for further good performances in the future. 

Next week-end (15th and 16th July) and the National Juvenile Relay Championships (Saturday) and the National Juvenile Championships (U-9 to U-13) take place in Cork at the CIT grounds.  I got my dates mixed up in last week's notes for these events so apologies to everyone for any confusion which I may have caused.  We look forward to a full turnout of athletes on both days to keep up the run of good success we have had this year.

 

Our own Open Sports will take place on Sunday 23 July beginning at 12:00pm at the Riocht Track in Castleisland.  Please support this event as it is always an enjoyable event and a good opportunity to compete in a relaxed and enjoyable setting.  The full Programme is as follows:

 

Girls  U-7 60m, U-9 60m, 200m, Ball Throw, U-10 60m, 200m, Long Jump, U-11 60m, 200m, Ball Throw, U-12 60m, 200m, Long Jump, U-13 80m, 600m, Shot, U-14 80m, 75m Hurdles, High Jump, U-15 100m, 800m, Long Jump, U-16 100m, Junior 100m, 800m, Discus, Javelin, Masters 3000m.

Boys  U-7 60m, U-9 60m, 200m, Ball Throw, U-10 60m, 200m, Long Jump, U-11 60m, 200m, Ball Throw, U-12 60m, 600m, Long Jump, U-13 80m, 600m, Shot, U-14 80m, Javelin, High Jump, U-15 100m, 800m, Long Jump, U-16 100m, 200m, Junior 100m, 200m, 400m, Discus, Javelin, Masters 100m, Shot.

Relays Girls  U-9 4x50m, U-11 4x50m, U-13 4x100m, U-15 4x100m and Junior 4x100m.

Relays Boys  U-9 4x50m, U-11 4x50m, U-13 4x100m, U-15 4x100m and Junion 4x100m.

 

The Field Events for ages U-9 to U-12 are for teams consisting of three athletes.  Teams can consist of athletes from different clubs if necessary and also individual non-club competitors will be facilitated.  As usual athletes can move up one age group to compete in an event not at their own age group and this includes team events.  

 

Outdoor training continues at Mounthawk Secondary School from 7:00 to 8:00pm on Tuesdays for all athletes.

  

Forthcoming events are as follows:

 

Inter County Relay Trials, Castleisland, Monday 17 July at 7:00pm
National Juvenile Combined Events, Tullamore, Saturday and Sunday 29/30 July

 

All dates and more detailed timetables are published on the website as soon as they
are made available at www.traleeharriers.com .