Young Ace athletes make their mark in National Sports Arena

DAYS three and four of the Leinster Indoor competitions were held last weekend in the National Sports Arena in Abbotstown and a fantastic number of Ace athletes showed up and gave super performances.

Sophie Gartland was the only athlete to attend on Saturday as she took part in the Junior Girls 60m, but she finished third in her heat and sixth in her final - a fantastic accomplishment while running out of age by a mile.

On Sunday the uneven age groups started the day off and the Girls Under-13 relay saw Chloe Cooney, Chloe Hanley, Sholah Lawrence and Sruthi Prasad finish second in their heat, unfortunate to miss out on the final by a few seconds.

The Girls Under-17 team - comprising Anna Faulkner, Saran Meite, Caer Ni Ghibne and Sophie

Gartland - finished comfortably in second place in their heat and ran very well in the final.

The even age groups started the afternoon off and the competition was fierce in each and every heat.

The Girls Under-12 race saw great runs by Sruthi Prasad, Naiya Semple, Chloe Cooney and Tegan Semple, while the boys race saw Daniel Hanley and Tadgh Forde Dunne run very well, with teammates Rian Monaghan and Liam Lynch making their mark also despite only racing for the very first time.

The Under-14 Girls team - made up of Eimear Cooney, Chloe Hanley, Isabella Garcia and Sholah Lawrence - gave a stellar performance and the boys team of Lorcan Forde Dunne, Rhys Clarke, Shea O’Donnell ran well and firsttime competitor Daniel-John Culligan impressed also.

The Girls Under-16 relay was up next and Saran Meite - running for the third time on the day - together with Ella McLoughlin, Allie Garcia and Eabha Cosgrove finished in a respectable third in their heat. The Boys Under-16 team of Caelan Quinn, Paddy Price, Pedro Miguel Sanchez Peris and Danny Nugent sped around the 200m track giving it everything to just miss out on the final by a mere one second.

Last up was the Boys Under-18 event and Christian Quinn, Cillian McLoughlin, Callum Sheedy and Josh Nulty all gave stellar performances in their heat.

Elsewhere, Nathan Robertson, being too young to compete just yet in the Indoor event, ran fantastically well to win the Balbriggan Parkrun.