‘Storm Niamh’ yields silver
THE rearranged day four of the Leinster Juvenile Championships took place in Athlone IT at the weekend after the original fixture had to be rescheduled due to storm Emma. However, it was storm Niamh that hit Athlone on Sunday!
Niamh Brady had a great performance following her recent podium finish in the Under-14 high jump, with a silver medal in the 60m hurdles.
This was a really impressive perforce in a race that was stacked with quality athletes and Niamh, who is enjoying a rich vein of form this year, will now take her place in the National hurdles final.
Earlier in the day Niamh also had a decent performance in the Girls long jump were she made it through to the final eight but unfortunately finished outside the medals. Both Lucy Smyth and Judith Bell also took part in the same event and both gave good accounts of themselves.
Lucy Brennan finished fifth in the Girls high jump with a jump of 1.30m but unfortunately sustained an injury which prevented her from taking her place on the start line for the hurdles.
Ellie Smyth suffered the effects of combining events as she competed in both the high jump and 600m events.
Dearbhla Allen ran bravely in the U-12 600m and this ever-willing young athlete will have gained valuable experience from her first indoor outing.
Mark Litchfield had a real good performance in his heat of the Boys 800m when he looked very comfortable to qualify in second place and had a solid performance in the final and was unlucky not to finish in the medals.
Sean Allen and Cian Gorham both had decent runs in their respective 800m heats, with both missing out narrowly on a place in the final. Sean also was in action in the Boys Under-14 long jump where he leaped to a new PB of 4.33m to make the last eight. Ronan Deery also was in action in the long jump and both him and Sean competed in the boys 60m hurdles, with both out of luck in their respective heats.
Rory McLoughlin made it through to the Boys U-15 800m final were he ran a new PB, and he also performed well in the high jump.
Ben McKeown made his indoor debut with three events - 600m, Long jump and shot putt - and performed well in all three.
Harry O’Reilly has missed some training lately due to illness but proved that when he is fully fit he will be a force to contend with as he was in the business end of his heat up till the last 150m when his lack of fitness cost him a final place. Conor Litchfield finished off his busy weekend, having made his Confirmation on Saturday, by running very strongly in the Boys U-13 600m on Sunday.