The Kerryman (South Kerry Edition)
O’Brien storms to victory in AIT
A NUMBER of Kerry athletes braved the elements on Sunday to take part in Day 2 of the Irish Life Health Juvenile Indoor Championships at the Athlone Indoor Arena. Day 1 has been put back to April 7.
Shona O’Brien from Gneeveguilla AC stormed to victory in the U-19 girls 1,500m. Taking the title in a new championship record time of 4.40.28. There was gold for Luke O’Carroll (Tralee Harriers) in the U18 boys long jump with a leap of 6.30m. The only other medals of the day came from Lios Tuathail AC’s Saoirse Dillon who ran a blistering 8.69 seconds in the final of the U-12 girls 60m to clinch bronze, only one hundredth of a second off second place, and An Riocht’s Melissa Ahern who finished third in the U-14 girls 60m. John O’Connor from An Riocht competed in the U-15 boys 60m, narrowly missing a spot in the final.
Lios Tuathail had four other athletes taking part with Sinead Hunt, Sean Mahony, Ben Sheehan, and Nathan Wright all performing to a very high standard in their events. Sinead finished 5th in a new PB of 8.11 in the U19 girls sprint.
Ben, just back competing after a recent illness, finished in 4th position in the U18 Boy’s long jump. Sean ran in the 60m and just missed out on a place in the final. Nathan Wright completed in the U-17 boy’s long jump.
Tralee Harriers athletes also acquitted themselves well. Elinor Dennison finished in 5th place in a very competitive U-18 girls long jump where only 25cm separated first and sixth places.
A great achievement for this promising young jumper. Cillian Griffin ran a PB of 7.16 in the heats of the U-17 boys 60m, the second fastest qualifier overall.
Basit Oyebanji and Luke O’Carroll progressed to their prospective 60m finals. Paddy Falvey finished in 6th place in the U-14 boys high jump and Donnacha Fox ran in the U-16 boys 1,500m, doing himself and his club proud at his first national event.
St Brendan’s athlete Aaron Malik finished 4th in the U18 boys pole vault. This is Aaron’s first year competing in this event. Rhona Randles (Kenmare AC) finished 7th in a very fast U-17 girls 1,500m and will be back next week, for day 3 of the championships, to contest the 800m.
At the European Masters in Madrid, Jim O’Shea from Farranfore / Maine Valley, won Ireland’s first medal of the championships when he won gold in the long jump, again proving that age is no barrier to athletic prowess or success.
The Tralee International Marathon took place last Sunday in what can only be described as blizzard conditions. Several PBs were run on the day, no doubt in an effort to keep warm.
Tralee Harriers AC would like to thank all the volunteers who gave so freely of their time to marshal the course, man the water stations, hand out numbers and generally help to the smooth running of the event.
The Wetlands Centre provided excellent facilities for the start and finish of the various runs and the Rose Hotel somewhere warm and dry for registration and bag storage.
The event would not have been possible without the generous support of the sponsors and other contributors.
Full results can be found on myrunresults.com and see traleemarathon.com for full details of the event.