Results

The Munster Juvenile Indoor Championship (U15-19) was held in Nenagh on Saturday and Sunday. Attendance records for this age group will always be lower than for younger competitors, but that is not reflected in the standard of performances which were very high throughout the two days. Medals at this level are hard to attain so the club also focuses on individual performances and personal bests (PBs). None of the athletes failed to impress in this regard.

Saturday kicked off with the U16 60m hurdles, where Michael Godley started a weekend of great performances to win silver (9.45s), later adding to this with silver in the high jump (1.55m). Sunday was a thoroughly satisfying day for him with a gold in the 60m sprint, running an excellent time of 7.67s in a fast and furious final, followed swiftly by a silver in the long jump (5.33m). Hard work and perseverance is paying off for this promising athlete. Molly McGilton competed in the U16 girls 60m and ran a fine heat to qualify for the final. An athlete with tremendous potential, she finished 5^th in a competitive final race. Molly also competed in a tough 200m race where qualification was decided on time but unfortunately didn’t qualify on this occasion.

Dearbhail Foley, who is recovering from injury, competed in a very fast field of U17 girls in the 60m sprint. Dearbhail, who always displays great dedication and single-mindedness, put in a good performance to get to the final and also finished 5^th in her race. She also competed in the 200m, but did not make the final four. Well done to the girls for excellent performances!

Ciara Walsh put in tremendous effort in the 800m to qualify for the final eight. A determined athlete, she ran bravely in the final but finished outside the medals. Ciara is another multi-performer and turned her attentions to hurdles and high jump on Sunday, running a respectable 10.02s in the U16 60mHs and demonstrating great skill with a tremendous jump of 1.58ms. Congratulations Ciara! 

Danny O’Connor also had a successful weekend which started with qualifying for the final 8 in the U17 long jump on Saturday but it was Sunday when Danny’s efforts paid off with an excellent time and new PB registered (24.38s) while finishing fourth in a very fast 200m final. Danny also competed in the 60m (7.77s) and later claimed a gold medal in the high jump where he pulled out all the stops to jump 1.80m, showing a great aptitude for this discipline. Jamie Byrne also travelled to Nenagh on Sunday, competing well in the 60m to get to the final with a time of 7.74s and also ran a time of 24.81 in the 200m. Well done to all.

Sunday proved equally successful for some of the clubs older juvenile athletes. Cian Foley demonstrated some fine sprinting talent to take the silver a very competitive U18 60m race with a new PB of 7.41s. Cian went on to win bronze in the 200m (24.49s). Cian is proving to be an excellent sprinter with a great future in the sport.

One of the finest sprinters to come through the ranks of Tralee Harriers, Ben McGilton, won gold in the U19 60m sprint in fine style (7.38s). Ben also won a silver medal in the 200m with a time of 24.76s, hopefully an indication of more good things to come from this fine athlete. Andrew Kearney, who never fails to impress in high jump, won gold with a jump of 1.80m in the boys U18 competition. Congratulations to Andrew. 

Apologies to the U11 girls relay, the notes last week should have read that this time were narrowly defeated and came 4^th in the final and Rebecca Ryan also put in a great performance in the U10 long jump competition.

Best wishes and a speedy recovery to Sinead O’Connor who was missed by all at the weekend.

EVENTS: County ‘B’ championships will take place in the Green School at 12 o’clock on Saturday 8^th of March. This competition is only for athletes who did not win any individual medal at county level in 2007.

TRAINING: Masters circuits training continues on Monday nights at 8pm in the KDYS.

Indoor juvenile training for U9-U13 from 6:30-7:30 and U14-U19 from 7.30pm in the Green school hall. Outdoor training for juveniles takes place in the ITT at 7pm on Thursdays and on Saturdays in An Riocht at 10.30am (selected athletes only).

RUNNING LEAGUE: The running league continues on Fridays at 6.30pm from O’Donnell’s, Mounthawk. The route is the same as last year with a ~1 mile, ~2 mile and ~3.5 mile circuits available. This is primarily geared towards the casual runner and is intended to be a mass participation event for all standards of athlete. All newcomers are welcome.

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.