Alister Cragg served notice of his intentions later on in the Summer at The Reebok Grand Prix in New York on Saturday the 3rd. of June with his fifth place, behind four Kenyans in the 5,000M .In the process he took a wopping 4 seconds off his PB to record a time of 13.08.97propelling him to the top of the European rankings. With Gothenburg to come later in the Summer who knows….
Also on Saturday a number of our young athletes were in Tullamore for the Kit Kat All Ireland Schools Championships. There were Golden performances firstly by Anthony McCreery (Belvedere) in the Senior Boys Pole Vault with a vault of 4.40M to win, and secondly in the Intermediate Boys by Luke Mangan , also in the Belvedere colours, to win the Shot Putt with a best throw of 16.39.
There was also a golden performance by Denise Byrne in the Senior Girls Javelin with a throw of 39.18 a PB.
Other medal winning performances by our athletes at the school championships were by Mark McDonald in the Boys Intermediate 800M also running a PB to record a time of 1.57 for 3rd place.
In the Senior Boys Triple Jump there was also a bronze medal performance by John Shanley with a jump of 12.84M, while Ruth Farrelly went one better in taking silver in the Intermediate Girls with a throw of 32.42.
Jennifer Corkery took silver in the Senior Girls 400M H with a time of 69.80.
Shauna O’Foreman was 2nd in the Intermediate Girls 75M H in a time of 11.99.
Becky Woods also ran a PB for 1500M in the Senior Girls to take bronze with a time of 4:49.15.
PB’s were also recorded by Eoin McDonald in the Boys Intermediate 1500M with a time of 4:07.
David Fitzmaurice also ran a PB in the Intermediate Boys 3000M with a time of 9:13.49, whilst in the 2000M Steeple Chase Paul Boylan ran a time of6:30.24.
The Irish Milers Club 1500M match with The British Milers Club featured on the School`s card with two Clonliffe men taking part.
Gary O`Hanlon was the race pace maker and when he pulled off club mate Mark Kenneally took up the running only to be overhauled by Mark Christie ( 3.44.63) and Gary Murray (3.45.14), Mark ran strongly to record a fast 3.45.55 for 3rd place. The Irish took victory taking home the Ronnie Delaney Cup.
The Leinster Senior and Master Championships took place on Sunday the 4th June also in Tullamore. Clonliffe’s sole representative at these championships was David Brennan who won silver in the Masters O/45 5000M with a time of 16.24.