Firm base in place
Sports Hub a huge boost for athletics
THE SECOND leg of the Wexford Creamery Senior track and field championships took place at Enniscorthy Sports Hub.
Following on from a superb night's competition the previous week, the second night did not let any of the large crowd of spectators have anything less to cheer about. Competitors were slightly down on the previous week, with quite a number of Novice athletes receiving their Leaving Cert. results, however there were still large fields in most events.
With both athletes and officials gaining more familiarity with the new track, there was a great buzz and amidst the friendly banter there was strong inter-club rivalry which spurred on the athletes to the delight of the watching crowd. The track has made such an immense contribution to the revival of the Senior track and field championships and has given the County Board a very firm base to continue to build and develop upon into the winter months.
The first race was the Senior 400m hurdles, a late addition to the programme in response to demands from the clubs. Chloe Whelan of Bree took her first Senior county title in the women's event, with Tim Bowler of Enniscorthy taking the Senior men's title in a gruelling test.
It was straight into the Masters and Novice sprints once the hurdles were cleared, and big fields made their way to the start line to test their speed on the fresh tartan surface of the 100m straight. In the Masters men Over-35 there was a very tight battle down the straight with very little between the first three, but Gavin Kelly from United Striders edged his way over the line to take a hard-won gold.
In the Novice ladies’ 800m, Orla Kehoe from S.B.R. did well to hold on to a lead to take the county title. The Novice men’s 800m was a very close affair with a quality field which was eventually won by Michael Deady from Menapians after a battle down the home straight.
The Masters men Over-50 100m saw the Chairman of Menapians, Dave Percival, take the county title. The Masters ladies’ Over-35 100m saw huge numbers compete, calling for heats prior to the final. United Striders eventually took all medal positions with Sinéad McCarthy taking the gold in a very entertaining race. The Masters ladies’ Over-50 100m was won by Mag Dunphy from Slaney Olympic.
In the Senior ladies’ 800m, Ciara Wilson from D.M.P. put in a strong two laps of the track to win gold.
One of the best races of the night however was probably the Senior men's 800m where the long stride of John McGrath of United Striders reigned supreme as he ran an extremly tactical race to make himself uncatchable on the last 100m, winning a much-coveted Senior title in what was a great championship for the New Ross clubman.
In the Senior ladies’ 200m the youthful figure of Chloe Whelan from Bree took her second Senior title.
The eagerly-awaited Senior men's 200m featured the national champion in the event, Menapians’ David Hynes, with plenty of young guns looking for their chance to race the fastest man in Ireland over this distance. David won gold in the national Senior 200m less than a month prior to this and is the one that every young sprinter aspires to beat.
It was a great experience for the younger athletes present to get the opportunity to compete against an athlete of this calibre. As was the case the week previous, the crowd were on edge for this race and were treated to an excellent exhibition of sprinting. Hynes came out of the bend in front followed closely by Tony Stafford and Ryan Murray before he powered down the 100m straight to take the Wexford county title to the delight of the watching crowd.
With the sprints complete, attention turned to the longer track events, the Senior ladies’ 3,000m and the Senior men's 5,000m. Both events had huge fields of athletes with the ladies running seven and a half laps of the track while the men had twelve and a half.
As the leading bunches began to break up, the
■ slight figure of Jackie Carthy of Kilmore emerged to the front of the pack, following her victory at the National Masters three days earlier. Jackie showed her total domination of ladies’ distance running in Wexford when she crossed the line to take the gold.
The Senior men's event also had a front runner in Niall Sheil from St. Killian's who went out to the front from about half way in the race and never showed signs of tiring to take the Senior county title easily.
The Novice ladies’ 400m saw an excellent performance by young Mairéad Fortune of Enniscorthy, competing in her first year at this age category. She showed her experience at this distance as a combined events athlete and was a clear winner.
Also competing in his first year of Novice, the talented sprinter Ryan Murray of Bree took gold in the men's 400m.
The Masters ladies’ Over-35 400m saw Slaney Olympic's Catherine Walsh switch to the blocks from the long hauls and take an early lead in one of the hardest of the track events, to take a sprint gold.
The Masters men’s Over-35 400m was very much a closer affair with the lead changing numerous times from gun to finish line, with Stephen Flavin of Croghan becoming the county champion after an epic battle down the home straight.
Dave Percival of Menapians won the Masters men’s Over-50 400m, taking his second sprint gold.
The Novice ladies’ 1,500m was won by Danielle Hennessy of S.B.R., and the men's 1,500 marked the double for S.B.R. when Joe Lillis took the gold with a great finish.
The Masters ladies’ Over-35 1,500m saw Helen Doyle of Kilmore take gold, while in the Masters men’s Over-35 1,500m, John McGrath of United Striders impressed at the middle distance once again by winning in style.
The Masters ladies’ Over-50 1,500m was a pleasure to watch with another national champion, Ann O’Sullivan of D.M.P., taking the county title.
There was only one field event held, the triple jump, which included the Juvenile county championships from Under-16 to Under-19. The Senior ladies’ event was won by Mairéad Fortune of Enniscorthy with a jump of 10.93m.
The Senior men’s triple jump saw an excellent jump of 11.60m from young Peter O’Connor of Enniscorthy, only to see his father take the Masters men’s triple jump title - John O’Connor of Slaney Olympic with a jump of 7.83m.
The Under-16 girls’ triple jump title went to Tara Farrell of Enniscorthy (8.55m), and the Under-17 girls’ title went to Mairéad Fortune from Enniscorthy (10.93m).
In the boys’ event, the national Under-16 triple jump champion, Ryan Carty-Walsh of Adamstown, jumped a very strong 11.61m to take another gold for himself. The Under-17 boys’ gold went to Peter O’Connor of Enniscorthy (11.60m), and Under-18 boys’ title was won by James Fortune of Enniscorthy (11.26m), with clubmate Cathal Byrne winning the Under-19 boys’ gold (10.74m).
The relays provided the grand finale to a great night's competition once again. First up was the Novice ladies’ 4 x 100m which was outstandingly won by home team Slaney Oympic (Caroline Murphy, Catherine Walsh, Kelly Long, Maggie O'Connor) ahead of two United Striders teams which battled for the silver and bronze.
The Novice men's 4 x 100m relay saw the young guns of Enniscorthy take the gold from Menapians and United Striders.
In the Senior ladies’ 4 x 400m relay, Kilmore (Helen Doyle, Jackie Carthy, Sue Cahill, Fiona Kehoe) were strong to take the gold, ahead of Menapians in second place and Slaney in third.
The Senior men's 4 x 400m relay was won by Enniscorthy (James Fortune, Peter O'Connor, Cathal Byrne, Tim Bowler), ahead of Menapians and Striders.
This event was the culmination of the 2014 track and field season and following assessment was deemed to be one of the best ever for Wexford, both at home and away. The County Board will now move to concentrate on the cross-country season, but will continue to work on the development of track in preparation for 2015.
Clubs should also note that Enniscorthy Sports Hub is now available for afternoon and evening block bookings, with individual slots coming on stream shortly.
Full information is on the Wexford Athletics Facebook page, including booking contact numbers.
The next County Board meeting is on Wednesday, September 3, at 8 p.m. Macamores are the hosts, with the exact venue to be confirmed.
All clubs are asked to have two representatives present. It is important that the views of all clubs are heard.