National Juvenile Track and Field Championships
Tullamore was the host venue for the National Juvenile Track and Field Championships held this past weekend, where there were sensational performances and victories for a number of Laois athletes.
Sinead Fitzpatrick had an outstanding run in the Girls U-14 1500m where her new PB (Personal Best) of 4:40 saw her take the victory.
Fitzpatrick pulled clear over the final lap to finish with six seconds to spare over her competitors, bring the gold medal back to her club of St Abban’s AC.
She was one of seven athletes from the Laois club competing across distance, hurdles and jumps.
Zoe Dunne also produced a medal-winning performance when she finished in third place in the U-15 Girls 250m hurdles.
Dunne qualified in second place in her heat and went two seconds quicker in the final to secure the bronze medal.
The club’s final medal on Saturday came from Rachel Ayers, who has been in good form in recent weeks, coming in the U-19 Girls 1500m when her time of 4:50 was also good enough for third place.
Aaliyah Troy, Cara English and James Hyland all finished narrowly outside the medal places, with Troy coming closest to finish fifth in the U-17 Girls Triple Jump.
English finishing sixth in the U-17 Girls 300m Hurdles while Hyland took sixth place in the U-18 Boys 400m Hurdles.
The final competitor from the club was Will Duffy in the U-17 Boys 1500m with his time of 4.27 earning 15th place overall.
National Juvenile ‘B’ Championships and Inter-club Relay Championships
The National Juvenile ‘B’ Championships and Inter-club Relay Championships were also held this weekend in Tullamore, where St Abban’s added further success from the previous day’s events.
The Laois club collected eight juvenile medals, including two golds and one silver, while there were also two teams medals for St Abban’s in the Relay Championship.
The gold medals came courtesy of Eabha Farrell who won the U-14 Long Jump, and Elanna Kelly who won the U-16 Girls High Jump.
Josh Delaney finished second to win silver in the U-14 Boys High Jump and went on to claim a bronze medal in the Long Jump where he took third place.
There were another four bronze medals for St Abban’s, with third-place finishes for Reuben Kelly in the U-12 Boys High Jump, Bailee Bolton in the U-13 Girls 600m, Harry Brennan in the U-14 High Jump, and Rian Murphy U-16 Boys 100m.
In the relays, there were bronze medals for both U-14 Girls team of Roisin Farrell, Faye Brennan, Eabha Farrell and Sophie Dowling and the U-17 Boys 4x400m team of Kalem Buggy, Will Duffy, Eoghan Mitchell and Eoin Mulkerrins.
The Juvenile Championships have now come to an end with all athletes and coaches taking a well-deserved break until September.
SEE ALSO – All-Ireland Ladies IFC: Five-goal Laois through to second All-Ireland Final in four years
