Jun 13, 2011 [Noel Guiden ] The Dublin Juvenile Athletic Championships took place on all three days over the course of the weekend. Friday night saw some testing weather towards the end of the night’s athletics as the weather turned fairly nasty, Saturday was fine and produced some very good athletics, whilst Sunday was simply horrendous at windswept and rain sodden Morton Stadium. Those who officiated and those athletes who took part, particularly on Sunday, deserve great credit for their dedication and commitment.
Friday night’s programme got underway at 7.00 p.m. sharp, the early races were mainly qualifiers for the following days finals. From a Clonliffe perspective there were some very good performances in the heats with Ruth Bergin and Lauren Carr qualifying for the Girl’s U/12 600M, likewise Keelan Twomey qualified in the Boy’s equivalent. In the Boy’s U/13 600M both Joseph Hession and Timothe Lawless qualified and in the U/14 800M all three Clonliffe lads qualified with David O’Hanlon looking very impressive in heat 2 recording a comfortable win, safe passage also in heat 1 by Paddy O’Hanlon 3rd (no relation) and Adam O’Brien 4th, unfortunately however both Adam and David were not available due to prior sporting commitments, for Saturday’s final.
In the older age groups the 800M races were straight finals which produced 4 Clonliff Bronze Medals. First off in the Boy’s U/15 800M where Dylan Gibbons was 3rd, Liam Ashton was also 3rd in the U/17 800 after a very fast opening lap Liam battled gamely to hold onto the bronze medal down the straight in a time of 2.08. There was also a great battling performance in the U/18 800 by Mark Ring who really gritted his teeth over the final 40M, battling from 4th to an excellent 3rd place in a time of 2.09. 3rd place also for Roisin Leahy in the U/18 Girl’s 800. In the U/16 800 Rachel Murray was 6th and likewise 6th place for Craig McCourt in the Boy’s U/16. All of these 800M races were held in lashing rain and the athletes all deserve great credit for their performances in very difficult conditions.
Saturday dawned bright and rain free, there were a number of threats of rain, but thankfully the conditions remained dry for the duration of the competition.
Our first Dublin champion of the Championships came early on Saturday courtesy of Elaine Begley in the Girl’s U/18 100M Hurdles. In the sprint events Timothe Lawless was 3rd in the Boy’s U/13 80M, Timothe also took 3rd in the Boy’s Long Jump competition, a competition which Luke Guy also performed very well as Luke made the final.
A medal also in the Boy’s U/12 Long Jump, this time Gold, courtesy of Keelan Twomey, Keelan also ran well in the Boy’s 80M race where he placed 4th.
In the Girl’s U/12 Long Jump, Ruth Bergin won Silver with a jump of 3.90M, only 8cm off Gold. Later in the afternoon Ruth ran an excellent 600M race as she powered into the lead at 200M and opened a gap of maybe 10m to take the Dublin title. A good run also in this race from Lauren Carr in 10th place.
Joseph Hession ran very well in the Boy’s U/13 600M to win Dublin Bronze. A good run also in this race from Timothae Lawless placing 10th.
Paddy O’Hanlon also ran very well in the Boy’s U/14 800M where he took Bronze in 3rd position. Paddy then took Gold in the Long Jump.
Sarah Lynott was in that unlucky 4th position in two events, the Girl’s U/14 80M and the Long Jump.
In the 100M sprint races there were excellent performances from the Club’s athletes as Jasmin Hales finished 3rd in the Girl’s U/15, whilst Megan Coomber was 2nd in the Girl’s U/14. In the Boy’s U/18 100M Keith Pike was a comfortable winner, easing up, as he saved himself for the National League round 1 to take place on Sunday. Patrick O’Connor was making his first appearance in a race since suffering an injury in the North Leinster Schools and looked impressive in winning the U/19 100M with Stuart Roche in 3rd place.
The Club’s athletes also shone in the High Jump. In the Boy’s U/16 Liam Conway firstly jumped a new PB of 1.63M and then to win the competition went even higher at 1.66M to take Dublin Gold. A remarkable performance from a young athlete who has only taken up the high jump over the last month or so.
Andrew Heeney really looks an excellent prospect as Andrew also set a new PB in winning the Boy’s U/17 High Jump with a jump of 2.00M. Sarah Quinn won Silver in the Girl’s U/16 High Jump.
Safari Akea took double Gold winning the Boy’s U/18 Shot and Discus.
The final events of the day were the 3000M in the Girl’s U/18 Laura Brennan ran an excellent PB chopping no less than 13 seconds off her previous best to run a time of 11.39 to take 2nd place. A good run also in the Boy’s U/17 3000M from John Buckley 3rd in 10.13. Ryan Cleary continues to make great progress as a race walker winning the Boy’s U/17 2000M walk – Ryan of course was to make his debut on the Senior Team the following day in Round 1 of the League where the news to hand is that he won the 3000M walk in the League.
On then to Sunday and the horrendous conditions endured by all and again despite this our athletes continued to show a great dedication to their sport and the Club. Elaine Beggley made it a hurdles double as she won the Girl’s U/18 300 Hurdles. Gold also for Leah Bergin in the U/18 300M flat.
The Lawless brothers also did the business in the Shot-put with Elliot winning the Boy’s U/12 and Timothe 2nd in the Boy’s U/13.
The U/14 Boy’s 1500M produced a great race between three Clonliffe club mates, where Adam O’Brien had an excellent run to win Dublin Bronze in a time of 4.58, only a matter of 2+ seconds behind was David O’Hanlon with Paddy O’Hanlon (clearly tired and suffering the after effects of a virus) placing 6th.
Alannah Cooney found the going very tough in the U/14 Girl’s 1500M but she battled on gamely in very testing conditions.
Stephanie McCaul took things by the scruff of the neck in the Girl’s U/15 1500M as she took up the running after 200M and at one stage had a lead of maybe 6 or 7M, however the conditions took their toll and she was relegated to 3rd position at the bell, however Stephanie managed to keep her composure and keep things together and was rewarded for her bravery with Dublin Bronze for an excellent 3rd place in a time of 5.26. A very brave run also in this race from Laura Tuite, who was another athlete suffering with a bad cold as Laura also battled away and ran very well in 5th position.
Rachel Murray ran another good race to take Bronze in the Girl’s U/16 1500M. Craig McCourt in the Boy’s U/16 finished in that so unlucky 4th position.
The U/17 Boy’s race over 1500M was an excellent race. Liam Ashton, with a Bronze medal in his pocket from the 800 on Friday night, was always there or thereabouts, he kicked hard for home at 400M and was only overtaken at about 150 to go and at one stage looked as if he could get back on level par but was only marginally caught for leg speed, however an excellent Silver medal was just reward for his work.
In the U/18 Girl’s race Roisin Leahy again took Bronze in 3rd position with Laura Brennan just behind her in 4th.
The Boy’s U/18 and U/19’s ran together producing an excellent race. After a slow opening lap Ian Guiden took over the lead and tried to wind the pace up, at the bell the race win looked to be his as he had a lead of about 5M, however on the back straight was caught by the Raheny U/19 pair of Jake McDonnell and Timmy Moriarty who overhauled him at the top bend, although 3rd in the race Ian was first U/18 with Mark Ring 5th U/18 and Fintan Doherty 3rd U/19.
In the field events Mary Taylor finished 4th in the Girl’s U/14 Javelin.
A win for Ryan Whelan in the U/17 Javelin.
Seana Reilly was 2nd in the Girl’s U/16 200M. An excellent run also in this race by Kate Hession as she made it through to the final. Sarah Lynott also made it through to the final in the Girl’s U/14 200M where she had placed 4th yet again.
Due to the weather conditions the High and Long Jump competitions were moved indoors. Jasmine Hales was 3rd in the Girl’s U/15 Long Jump. Megan Coomber won the Girl’s U/16.
It was then back to the great outdoors for the final track competition of the day, the 2000M Steeple Chase where as expected Eoin McCullough was dominant to win the Boy’s U/18 title. There was a great run in the U/17 race by John Buckley making his debut over the jumps where he won Dublin Silver.
These are not comprehensive Conliffe results due to technical difficulties – wet paper and running ink!
As soon as all results have been made available by the Dublin County Board a full list of the Club’s medallists will be published on this site.
Again very well done to all athletes who took part over the course of the weekend. Congratulations to those who won medals and congratulations in particular to those who bravely battled the conditions late on Friday night and all day Sunday.