All posts in Juvenile Championships

The Dublin Juvenile even ages cross country took place in Abbotstown today with Clonliffe teams very much in the mix. At the end of the day 5 sets of team medals were on the way back to Santry, unfortunately not the gold ones the athletes were looking for…but it`s early days yet! Abbotstown is a tough course. While the underfoot conditions were superb it is a hard course featuring some really taxing climbs. All the club`s athletes put in very solid efforts.

The U/18 boys placed 2nd, only missing out on gold to DSD by a single point. This was a great inter club battle between two evenly matched squads. From the gun there were 3 Clonliffe and 3 DSD athletes in the lead pack, the Clonliffe lads were lead home after the 6000 race length by 3rd place finisher Aaron Cullen, 5th Daniel Stone, 8th Ben Guiden and 12th Thomas Baltzar. This scoring four were very well backed up by their team mates: Ian McAlweney, Calum Simpson, Alex Murray, Daragh Cartner and Dermot Buckley (several stepping up from U/17).

Silver also for the U/18 girls, again behind DSD: Ella Brown 8th, Tess Loftus 10th, Aimee Warren 11th, Vicky McDonnell 14th.

The U/16 girls were also in silver, and yes behind DSD! A great run in particular by Aoife Hession 4th, the rest of the team were very impressive indeed Alana Fitzsimons 11th ,U/15 girl Naoise Cullen 13th, Katie Halpin 15th, Lara Gallager, another stepping up a year, 17th and Ella Cooley 18th.

The U/16 boys also impressed. A great run in this race by Niall in 5th place, again an athlete stepping up a year, also Ronan 20th, Jack 27th, Alex 29th, Andrew 36th, Adam 38th and Jacob 46th. The efforts of the lads was rewarded with team bronze.

Bronze medals were also won by the U/14 boys team of Cillian Keegan 12th, Jonathan Fitzsimons 13th, Sean Boyne 15th, Alex Usanova, Calcum Regan and Sandy.

Great runs earlier in the programme by the U/14 girls team with Orla O`Sullivan leading the tam home in 25th place and by both the girls and boys U/12 teams.

Next up from the crew is the Dublin uneven ages in Santry on November 4th.

Tonight in Morton Stadium the 6th and final night of the Dublin Juvenile Track & Field Championships took place with 1500s and even age relays.

Once again in the 1500s Clonliffe athletes were very much to the fore. Starting off with the boys this time Daragh Cartner was a fine winner of the U/17 with a measured sprint to take gold. Dermot Buckley went all the way to the line and succeeded in grabbing 4th place on the line and a place in next month`s Nationals.

In the U/18 race there was another fantastic Clonliffe battle with Daniel Stone prevailing to win the Dublin title, Cian Bolger 3rd, Ben Guiden 5th and Ian McAlweeney 8th. The U/19s again saw Clonliffe very much at the head of affairs as Craig Giles took 2nd from Efrem Gidey 3rd, Stephen Cashin 5th and Jordan Byrne 6th.

The U/17 girls also produced two national qualifiers as Sarah Bateson, recovered now from her meeting with the Irishtown track on Friday night, took 3rd with Abbie Sheehy 4th (Abbie now qualifying for nationals over 800, 1500, 3000 and 4 x 400!), Ella Brown was 6th and Cara Curran Begg 9th. There was also a solid run in the U/15 race from Naoise Cullen placing 8th.

Moving on then to the relays which took place after the 1500s: Clonliffe had teams in Girls U14, Boys U14, Girls U12 and Boys U12. Great races from all teams, in particular the Boys U14, Girls U12 and Boys U12 who all progressed from their heats and performed very well in the finals. With the Clonliffe success also from last week’s uneven age relays in mind, it is fair to say that all the hard relay team training in recent weeks certainly paid off!

The Dublin Juvenile Track & Field continued in Tallaght this morning with again excellent performances from the Clonliffe crew. First into the fray were the middle distance athletes bright and early for their 3000s.

The girls 3000`s were combined with all age groups going together, this of course can be a little daunting for the younger girls with the U/16s having their first runs over the distance, still our two athletes Aoife Hession and Alana Fitzsimons just got on with in and put in solid runs. Aoife going home with gold and Alana, who battle gamely through a very painful hip injury from half way, took silver. Abbie Sheehy continued her very good form to take the U/17 title and finished 2nd overall “on the road”.

The U/17s boys race featured Clonliffe`s  Three Amigos: Dermo, Alex and “New Hair Cut” Carter, Alex Murray took the title with Daragh 2nd.

A great race in the U/18 and 19 combined race which wound up nicely after some very slow opening laps but the boys were flying over the closing stages saw Efrem Gidley win the U/19 title with Stephen Cashin just out of the medals and in the U/18s Aaron Cullen 2nd (Fun fact: this was Aaron`s first ever Dublin Track medal!) with Ben Guiden 3rd, Thomas Baltzar was 5th.

In the field events Jonas Norvaisas won the U/15 shot with an impressive 14.30m and Ava Usnova was 3rd in the U/12 high jump. Later in the afternoon in the long jump out Sally Somula won the U/15 competition (5.22m) and Kristain Bosnajak won the boys U/17. Keith Burke was 3rd in the U/15 long jump.

A win also in the javelin for Nicole Laipy in the girls U/15.

Rebecca Fitxsimons won the U/18 100, Sally Somula was 2nd in the U/15 100 and Alex Twomey 3rd in the U/16 with Emma Mcdonnell 6th. Kristian Bosnajak was just off a medal in the U/17 100 placing 4th.

Finally 4th place for Orla O’Sullivan in the U/15 800.

Next and final day of the Dublins is Wednesday night from 7.00pm in Morton Stadium for even age relays and 1500s.

The Dublin Juvenile Championships continued today at Irishtown with sprints and field events on the menu. The sprints groups continued where they left off yesterday with medal winning performances.

Lauren Carr won the U/19 200 title and took silver in the 400. Silver also for Rebecca Fitzsimons in the U/18 200. Aaron Nnadi did likewise in theU/17 boys 400. Silver and bronze were won by the U/16 girls in the 200 Alex Twomey 2nd and Emma McDonnell 3rd, Kristin O`Grady Hogan also made that final placing 5th. In the U/15s Sally Somula took silver.

In the U/16 high jump Emma claimed top spot on the podium winning the competition. The U/15 girls were also superb in their high jump with Nicole Laipy 2nd and Natalia Burtenshaw 3rd. To complete a great day`s high jumping Kristian Bosnajak also took 3rd place in the boys U/17 (Kristain had also made the 200 final where he placed 5th). Bronze also in the U/15`s for James McDonnell.

Finally Keith Burke took bronze in the U/15 discus.

Tomorrow it`s to Tallaght for the 3000s, 100s and hurdles.