Club Notes 16/7/07

RESULTS: The first weekend of the National Juvenile U13-U19 Track & Field Championships were down for decision last weekend in Tullamore. This is the highest level for any juvenile athlete and competition is fierce with medals very hard to achieve. On Saturday the club had four medal winners with three on Sunday.  Karen O’Connor was the first medal winner of the day coming second in the discus with a throw of 31.60m. She also came in fourth spot in the shot with a throw of 8.60m. This is Karen’s last year as a juvenile so she is very pleased to be going out on a high note. Andrew Kearney was next up with a bronze medal in the High Jump with a jump of 1.78m. Michael Godley finished a fine season on a high note with silver in the sprint hurdles. He won his heat easily but had it all to do in the final judging on time. But he didn’t disappoint, with a superb run in the final in a time of 12.65s, a new PB for him. He also competed in the long jump on Saturday and high jump on Sunday but the hurdles effort left him drained for those events. Louise O’Connor is looking like one of the best sprint prospects we have had in a long time. She claimed two medals over the weekend with a gold in the high jump and silver in the 80m. In the 80m semi final she went within 0.01s (10.70) of the Championship Best performance, a record she managed to claim last year at U12. In the final she came home in second spot to her Ferrybank rival in a slightly slower time of 10.80. With the pressure of the sprint final out the way, she won the high jump easily on Sunday with a new PB of 1.40m. On Sunday Claire Fitzgerald was our first medal winner of the day with a throw of 37.86m in the discus U17, with over 10m to spare over her nearest rival. Indeed this was the best throw in the discus across all ages. She will now go to try to complete the triple in two weeks time in the shot and javelin. Ciara Walsh claimed third in the 250mH in a time of 38.16 and this is a major achievement given that she was injured for long periods of the season. It says a lot about the standard of athletes we have in the club at present in that all of our athletes over the weekend all reached finals in their competitions. Eoin O’Carroll reached three finals and was unlucky not to take something home. He came fourth in the sprint final in a time of 10.88, fifth in the hurdles in a time of 10.44 and eight in the long jump (4.42 PB). His team mate Danny Pierce came fourth in the High Jump (1.35) and fifth in the Long Jump (4.59m), creating new PBs in both events in the process. Dearbhail Foley claimed sixth spot in the 100m in a time of 13.05s in her first Nationals. Jamie Byrne claimed seventh spot in the U16 100m in a time of 12.26s. Dara O’Carroll came seventh in the 400m in a time of 53.81s and Danny O’Connor came eight in the 250mH in a time of 36.35s with an injury hampering his progress all season. Kate Boyd took eight spot in the javelin with a throw of 18.23 in her first Nationals and no doubt more to come from her. It has been a long hard season for all athletes and all will be looking forward to the break for the rest of the summer. To compete at a National final is a very high achievement for any athlete and all can be very proud of their efforts.

TRAINING: Training for all juveniles is now finished except for those competing at National competitions over the coming weeks.  Don’t forget our Open Sports on Sunday in Castleisland at 1pm.  

EVENTS: National Senior T&F Championships, Santry July 21st/22nd, Tralee Harriers Open Sports, July 22nd, An Riocht; National Juvenile U13/U19 T&F weekend 2.

CLUB E-MAIL: The club has set-up an e-mail system so athletes and members can receive regular updates by e-mail. Athletes and members can register their e-mail address via the website at www.traleeharriers.com.

MISCELLANEOUS: Tralee Harriers Open Sports at Castleisland at 1pm. Programme available on the website www.traleeharriers.com