All-rounder Amy scoops another Irish title for Boyne
AMY McTeggart of Boyne AC secured another big win in her burgeoning athletics career when storming to victory in Sunday’s All-Ireland Senior Combined Events Championship in Morton Stadium.
The 21-year-old all-rounder, competing against some much more experienced opponents, amassed a grand total of 4,706 points, a personal best in itself, and also secured a PB in three of her disciplines - the shot putt, hurdles and javelin.
Elsewhere, the recent Athletics Louth Track & Field Championships attracted a huge entry from Boyne AC and the distinctive yellow singlets were once again prominent on the podium throughout the three days of action.
Drogheda played host to Day 1, and first to compete for Boyne was Tara Meier who easily won her U-17 hurdles race, while Lili O’Connor won the equivalent U-16 event.
There was gold too for Aaron Fennell and Darragh Peters in the Boys U-13 and U-12 hurdles races, while Aaron also won the U-13 javelin with a huge throw of 34.01m and clubmate Paddy Price was third in that event.
Max Kingston threw 32.16 to take silver in the Boys U-14 javelin and followed up with two more second places in the shot putt and high jump, while Cathal Monaghan scooped Boys U-15 javelin gold (34.00m) and a bronze in the shot putt.
Gold also went to Kate Kelly in the U-16 Girls javelin (27.29m) and she also won the shot putt with a throw of exactly 10 metres.
Day 2 saw the athletes head north to Bush, where blue skies and sun made a nice change from the usual inclement weather.
The U-9s got the competition under way, and a win in the Boys 60m sprint by Edison Ekhator proved that he is well and truly following in his brother’s footsteps.
The Girls U-10 sprint final saw Shruti Prasad take a clear win, as did Callum Byrne in the boys equivalent.
Oliver Carolan was first in the Boys U-11 sprint, followed closely by Ledley King Abor, while Sholah Lawrence took the win in the U-11 girls sprint.
Shea O’Donnell, more noted for his distance running, took bronze in the Boys U-12 80m, while in the Boys U-13 80m it was a one/ two for Boyne, with Alex Devine just pipping Amitesh Bala.
Saran Meite took silver in the Girls U-14 sprint, while it was bronze for Adam Byrne in the U-14 Boys race.
There was another double for Boyne in the U-15 Girls 100m as Lily Cummins pipped Sophie Gartland to the gold.
Tara Meier added another gold to her collection with a win in the U-17 Girls 100m, while Ruarcan O’Gibne took the distance down a notch to take gold in the Boys U-19 100m.
In the 200m races, gold went to Saran Meite in the U-14 Girls, and there was another Lily Cummins/Sophie Gartland one-two at U-15 level.
Cathal Monaghan took bronze in the Boys U-15 race, as did Lili O’Connor in the U-16.
Tara and Ruarcan were back for more, both winning their 200m races, with Ruarcan also coming home first in the 400m and 1500m races.
The younger athletes then came back on track for their distance races. It was silver for Ally Fennell in the Girls U-10 500m, while Sholah Lawrence took a fine gold in the U-11 600m, followed closely by Kate Culhane in second.
Eimear Cooney ran a great race to take silver in the Girls U-12 600m, while there was a clear win for Shea O’Donnell in the boys equivalent.
The U-13 Boys race saw Paddy Price returning to great form with a win, while Caelan Quinn was a deserved winner of the bronze.
A tough 800m race for the Girls U-14s saw Eabha Cosgrove take the silver medal, with Saran Meite claiming bronze.
Danny Nugent ran a strong tactical race to take the win in the Boys race in a time of 2:17, two seconds ahead of silver medallist Neil Culhane.
It was a sea of yellow on the podium in the Girls U-15 800m, with Care niGhibne, Anna Faulkner and Lily Cummins taking the top three spots respectively.
Killian McLoughlin had a great run in the Boys U-16 800m, taking gold, with Christian Quinn hot on his heels in second.
Cliodhna Nolan and Tom Cummins also took silver in their U-17 800m races, while Eva Cummins won the Girls U-19 event over that distance.
The 1500m races made for some great spectating as the athletes battled it out over just under four laps and Eabha Cosgrove took silver in the U-14 Girls, while it was a role reversal for Neil Culhane and Danny Nugent as they took gold and silver respectively in their race.
Caer Ni Ghibne and Anna Faulkner were back on the podium with U-15 gold and silver, while the Boys U-16 race was a clean sweep for Boyne as Callum Sheedy, Christian Quinn and Killian McLoughlin took the top three places and in the final distance race of the day Tadgh Everitt Thompson took bronze in the U-19 Boys 1500m.
The field events followed, with Boyne once again dominating the results.
Wannita McCabe took bronze in the U-9 Girls turbo javelin, while Edison Ekhator took U-9 Boys gold with a throw of 11.24m and also won the long jump.
Ally Fennell won the U-10 Girls turbo and earned silver in the long jump, with Caoimhe Martin second in the turbo.
Oliver Carolan threw 22.52m to take a commanding win in the Boys U-11 turbo, plus silver in the long jump.
A huge jump of 4.23m saw Aaron Fennell take gold in the U-13 Boys long jump, with Amitesh Bala jumping 4.04 to take silver. Aaron also won the shot putt with a huge 10.52m throw.
Adam Byrne took a fine bronze in the Boys U-14 long jump, a result matched by Cathal Monaghan in the U-15 age group.