PBs tumble at ‘Junior Live’ in Abbotstown

SEVERAL of Drogheda & District AC’s younger members opened their indoor season in fine style at the NIA Junior Live event in Abbotstown last Tuesday night.

On his indoor debut, Harry Coade ran a splendid time of 10.23sec in the Under-12 60m, while his sister, Lilli Maye Coade, covered the same distance in 9.45 and Ciara O’Connor produced a time of 9.50sec in the Under-14 60m.

In the 600m races, Aine Carroll made her indoor debut with a time of 2:15 in the Girls Under-12 race, a significant PB for this fast-improving young athlete.

Killian Sheridan ran a really impressive race on his debut, dipping under the two-minute mark with 1:59 in the Boys Under-12 600m. Niamh Carroll and Ciara O’Connor ran neck and neck in the Girls Under-14 race and indoor debutant Carroll clocked a fine PB of 2:05, just behind O’Connor who was given the same time.

Another first-timer, Matthew O’Shea, really impressed with a very fine time of 1:36 over the 600m distance in the U-16 race.

It was a great evening for these young athletes who now look towards the Leinster Indoor Championships the weekend after next in AIT.

The senior races took place later in the evening and there were some good performances in the 800m where Kieran McGrath ran a lively 2:02:96 to finish fourth in his race, while Cillian Dyas was seventh in 2:19:22.

Brian Fitzpatrick made an impressive debut over the distance when coping well with the tight bends on the track to finish fourth in an eye-opening 2:10:55.

In the Women’s 800m, Mary Leech ran a new PB time of 2:22:51 when finishing third in her race, while young Lily Cummins was fifth in 2:36:19.

The Mile race saw Mark O’Shea run well to finish third in 4:35:12, while Shane Russell delivered a strong run to finish ninth in a useful 4:47:57.

Sticking to the muddy fields at the BHAA Eir Cross-Country in Cherrywood Park were Colm Reilly, Gerry Mullins and Conor Cooney who ran in the Men’s five-mile event which was run over three laps of a testing course.

Thanks to the strong running Reilly finishing well up the field in 30th place, the fast-finishing Mullins (106th) and Cooney (109th), the trio packed well to win the team prize in their category.

In the Women’s two-mile race Nuala Reilly ran well to finish 27th, showing many of her younger rivals a clean pair of heels along the way.

Closer to home, the sight of more than 800 local school kids drawn from a mix of primary and secondary schools would gladden the heart of any athletics fan and the future of Drogheda athletics looks to be in good hands if last Thursday’s Schools Cross-Country races were anything to go by.

This was the second running of this event at Newtownstalaban and the pre-race excitement was electric as these budding young athletes finished their warm-up and prepared to do battle with their classmates for much sought-after bragging rights.

In what was an excellently run series of races, there were some sparkling performances from Drogheda & District AC’s Abi Tegart, Liam Mulligan, Sean Toner and Lily Cummins to name just a few.

But perhaps the real winners were the first-timers who discovered that they have a talent for running and, more importantly, enjoyed the event.

Meanwhile, Drogheda & District AC would like to congratulate the club’s two new club captains for 2020, Yasmin Canning and Paddy Murphy.