The first night of the Dublin Juvenile Championships kicked off the weekend in Morton Stadium. A good night for racing, a little cold but no rain! The menu tonight was a middle distance affaire 500s to 800s.
The younger age groups had heats with finals tomorrow. Some excellent runs from the younger Harriers with the highlights including: U/11 girls heats 5th Sarah McDonnell. U/12 boys 4th Cian O’Hare. U/13 girls 5th Orlando O’Sullivan. U/13 boys 5th Jonathan Fitzsimons.
Moving onto the 800s for the older groupings: U/14 girls 2nd Naoise Cullen and a place in tomorrow`s final in Tallaght.
The U/15 girls 800 was a final with great Clonliffe representation: Emma McDonnell, Ella Cooley, Alana Fitzsimons, Aoife Hession and Katie Halpin. In this race Emma McDonnell took up the running from the gun with a very brave Alana Fitzsimons sticking on her shoulder. Down the home straight Emma McDonnell was a cool 1st, the fast finishing Katie Halpin got herself up to 3rd and Alana`s brave run was rewarded with a 4th place finish and a place in the Nationals. Likewise the U/16 girls race had a strong Clonliffe presence with Ella Brown, Cara Beggs Curran, Vicky McDonnell and Amy Hodson all very much involved. Amy Hodson has a super run to finish in 2nd place.
The U/17 boys 800 was a stunningly fast race, won in 1.56. Cian Bolger was top Clonliffe in 3rd place and breaking new ground as he shattered two minutes with a 1.58.6 run, fine runs also by U/16 All Ireland school`s champion Aaron Hanlon n this race with a pb of 2.02.
Hannah Browne continued her excellent record in these Dublin Championships taking another win with a gun to tape win in 2.26.00 in the U/18 race. In the boys U/18 & 19 race Craig Giles was the class of the field winning a tactical race in sub 2, Shane Ferris took bronze, with Jack Horan 5th and a good warm up for tomorrow`s 3000 from Jordan Byrne. Jordan was today called up for the Irish Schools team in the 1500SC.
