Valuable experience for St Peter’s athletes in Athlone and Blackrock
ST PETER’S AC athletes gained valuable experience in two weekend events as action took place in both Athlone and closer to home in Blackrock.
Five athletes made the first of many journeys of 2018 to Athlone IT for the National Combined Events. Although none of the athletes medalled, they all gained valuable experience in their first time to compete over the five-discipline event.
The club had three girls compete in the Girls Under-14, with Judith Bell, Niamh Brady and Julie McLoughlin all making good accounts of themselves. Unfortunately for Judith she picked up a recurring heel injury but was determined to finish all five disciplines, regardless of her obvious pain.
Both Niamh and Julie were in contention for a medal up to the last event. Julie looked like she was going to make the podium as she led the 800m race going into the last of the four 200m laps, but she had to pull up with a knee injury she sustained when she stumbled on a bend.
On Sunday 13 athletes braved the inclement weather to compete at the Blackrock AC Cross-Country which was held at the Geraldines GAA grounds.
This was a very enjoyable event and the athletes from all the clubs deserve great credit for taking part, as do Blackrock AC for taking the decision to proceed with the event.
Aoibhinn Boyle and Niamh Allen made their debuts for the club and both could hardly have asked for a tougher day to start their athletic careers, but neither complained and both coped with the conditions admirably.
Liam McKeown showed that he’s made of tough stuff when he fought off some stiff opposition to hold on to sixth place and claim his first athletics medal.
The O’Reilly twins Emily and Hannah ran very strongly out of their age in the Girls Under-11 race, while Ruirhi Carpenter had his best race to date for the club when he ran really bravely to win his first individual medal - hopefully a sign of thing to come.
Dearbhla Allen continued where she left off last year with another very strong run to finish among the individual medals in the Girls Under-13 race, despite still being eligible for Under-12.
The best race for the club was the Boys Under-13 where Harry O’Reilly - an Under-12 athlete - led home the team challenge with a fourth place finish, closely followed by the returning Jack McLaughlin in sixth and Ben McKeown (also an Under-12) in 10th to win a silver team medal.
Niamh Brady and Sean Allen experienced the extreme opposite of conditions, from indoor on Saturday to the extremely heavy underfoot conditions on Sunday, but both ran comfortably to secure fifth-place finishes.
Cian Gorham, who is always willing to pull on the blue singlet of St Peter’s, also ran very well in the same race and came in just ahead of Sean in fourth, with all three eligible for Under-15 again next year.
The season continues next weekend with the Cushinstown Indoor meeting taking place next Sunday.
Amy takes bronze