Lively fare in Senior finals
Track and field concludes
THE FINAL day of the county track and field calendar took place in the Enniscorthy Sports Hub last Wednesday with the second evening of the Senior championship.
A beautiful sunny evening for athletics commenced with the Senior men’s and women’s 100m hurdles. Aoife Rochford (Bree) and Tim Bowler (Enniscorthy) took the respective titles.
This was followed by the 800m Senior races. Enda Cloake (Slaney Olympic) took the honours for the men and Fiona Kehoe (Kilmore) won the women.
The Novice 400m races were won by Christine Stone (D.M.P.) and Brian Maher (Slaney Olympic). The Masters ladies’ 400m was won by Emily O’Connor of Slaney Olympic (Over-35) and Mary Gaynor of Menapians (Over-50), while the men’s Masters titles went to John McGrath of United Striders (Over-35) and Stephen Flavin of Croghan (Over-50).
On the field there were some great competitions taking place in the javelin. Under-17 girls’ winner was Olivia Howe of Bree (18.11 metres), while Under-17 boys’ winner was Pádraig Hore of Taghmon (38.65 metres).
Under-18 boys’ winner was Kevin O’Connor of Enniscorthy (26.06 metres), while Senior winners were Hannah Mahon of Enniscorthy (24.4 metres) in the ladies and Peter O’Shea of D.M.P. (49.13 metres) who took the Under-19 and Senior titles.
On the opposite side of the hub the Senior shot putt competition took place, with Sinéad McCarthy of United Striders winning the ladies with 7.74 metres and Tim Bowler of Enniscorthy winning the men’s title with 11.38 metres.
The Senior ladies’ 3,000m was won by Ann-Marie Nolan of Slaney Olympic, and the Senior men’s 5,000m was won by Myles Gibbons of S.B.R.
The sprints finals were highly competitive and Aoife Rochford of Bree won the Senior 200m while Conor Wilson of Menapians won the men’s 200m.
Again Aoife Rochford was victorious in the ladies’ Novice 100m, while Ryan Murray of Bree won the Novice men’s 100m.
The 100m Masters titles went to John Kehoe of D.M.P. (Over-35), Jimmy O’Neill of Menapians (Over50), Sinéad McCarthy of United Striders (Over-35) and Siobhán Doyle of Menapians (Over-50).
The middle distance races were next on the programme with 1,500 metre titles on the line. Christine Stone of D.M.P. added to her earlier victory by winning the Novice ladies, while Lillian Lawless of S.B.R. won the Masters ladies.
Again Enda Cloake of Slaney Olympic added to his 800m title earlier in the night and won the Novice men’s 1,500m. It was a double for United Striders in the 1,500m men’s Masters with John McGrath winning the Over-35 and Pat O’Callaghan winning the Over-50.
The evening finished with very exciting and competitive 4 x 400m relays, with Menapians taking both the men’s and ladies’ titles.
Meanwhile, the European Athletics Youth Championship took place in Tbilisi last week and Wexford’s athletes, Ryan Carthy-Walsh of Adamstown and David McDonald of Menapians, represented Ireland.
David McDonald won his 100m heat in 10.94 seconds, was second in the semi-finals in 10.81 seconds, and was seventh in the final in 10.83 seconds.
Ryan Carthy-Walsh was tenth in Group B of the high jump, clearing two metres, but unfortunately it wasn’t enough to make the final.
It was a fantastic achievement for both young men to be competing at European level, and surely there is more success to come their way.
The Junior and Under-23 national championship took place in Tullamore on July 2. Wexford was represented well in the medals, and national titles went to Mikey Cullen of Menapians in the Junior long jump, Elaine McCabe of Bree in the Under-23 3,000m, and Ryan Carthy-Walsh of Adamstown in the Junior high jump.
Other medal winners were Joe Mooney who was third in the Junior men’s 5k walk, James Fortune of Enniscorthy who was third in the Junior men’s long jump, and Menapians who were second in both the Under-23 4 x 100m relay and the Under-23 4 x 400m relay.
The national Juvenile relay championship was the following day in Tullamore and relay teams from Bree were third in Under-9 girls and fourth in Under-11 girls.
On the same day the national pairs championship took place and Enniscorthy’s Arthur Ashmore and Seán Hyland were crowned champions in the Under-10 long jump.
Joanne Chapman and Katie Doyle of Bree were third in the Under-10 long jump. Conor Brennan of D.M.P. was successful in the Under-15 multi events with third place.
The national Juvenile championships day one took place in Tullamore last Sunday and we saw a number of athletes win titles - Peter O’Connor of Enniscorthy in the Under-19 long jump, Marguerite Furlong of Adamstown in the Under-17 discus, and Aoife Cloke-Rochford of Bree in the Under-18 100m hurdles.
The following athletes also came home with medals: Sophie McCabe of Bree, second in the Under-19 long jump; Karyn Murphy of Enniscorthy, third in the Under-16 80m hurdles; Aaron Tierney-Smith of Menapians, third in the Under-17 100m hurdles, and Pádraig Hore of Taghmon made it a double with second in the Under-17 discus and third in the Under-17 shot putt.
The national ‘B’ championship was held in Tullamore last Saturday and Danika Gilshinan of Menapians was crowned Under-14 800m champion. Also successful were Muireann Hore of Taghmon who was third in the Under-15 shot putt, Oisín Kehoe of D.M.P. who was third in the Under-13 long jump, Chloe O’Toole of Taghmon who was second in the Under-13 80m, and Bree’s Under-12 boys’ relay team finished off a successful day with third place in the 4 x 100m final.