Sharp Holly’s on the podium
TWELVE fearless Cilles AC athletes were out in some of the most challenging running weather we’ve had in a long while as the All-Ireland Masters & Juvenile B Championships took place in Wexford at the weekend.
It remained dry for the duration of the race, but the word on everyone’s frozen lips was ‘Baltic!’. Nevertheless, Holly Brennan ran a tactically clever race to bag herself third position in the Under-15 Girls event, while Lauren Murphy (running a year out of her age in U-17) was pipped for third place in a dramatic sprint finish.
Shannon Cleary, Sarah Cleary and Sean Hyland represented Cilles AC in the Under-11 races, and in the Under-15 Boys there were two top-10 finishers in Aaron Smith and James Smith, with Liam Hyland also finishing well up in 23rd place.
Cilles AC’s Under-17 Boys also showed up well, with Gavin Doyle 18th, Kenneth Doyle 21st and Darragh Collins 26th.
Deirdre McNulty ran a great race in the Masters 4,000m.
Three Cilles AC ladies braved the elements to take on the Erin’s Run 5k and Ciara Lenihan was third lady home with a PB of 21:44, Aishling Crossan clocked 24:39 (also a PB) and Karen White finished in 25:12.
Three more of the Cilles AC gang took on the Cross-Border Dune Half-Marathon where conditions were again very testing. However, Caroline Conway, Brona Cromwell and Susan Kielty coped well with the undulating course.
Cilles AC athletes also enjoyed a great day at the Ràs na hEireann in Oldbridge.
The Under-11 Boys finished second in the team competition to claim a silver medal, thanks to the efforts of Jackson, Shane, Sean and Daniel. The Under-17 Boys took gold, courtesy of Aaron, James, Liam and Darragh. In the individual competitions, there was gold for Lauren Murphy and bronze for Holly Brennan in the Under-17 Girls race and bronze for Aaron Smith in the same age group for boys.
On a very busy week in the Cilles AC calendar the club agm also took place last Friday and it’s clear that there is a vibrant membership who are full of ideas and raring to implement them! CUSHINSTOWN AC had 18 athletes competing in the Leinster Indoor Juvenile Championships in Athlone at the weekend and they came away with 11 individual medals - including a superb hattrick for Laura Bolster.
Competing in the Under-13 age group, Laura won gold in the 60m sprint, 60m hurdles and long jump. and her clubmate Amy Callaghan (U-14) was also in gold medal-winning form, taking the shot putt (11.38m) and high jump titles.
Amy Bellew (U-14) just missed out on shot putt silver by 1cm, taking bronze medal with a throw of 9.17m, with teammates Mollie White and Niamh Quinn also giving strong performances but just missing out on medal placings.
Katie Lenehan (U-15) put in a fantastic performance to land a silver medal with a PB throw of 11.38m with the 2.72kg shot. Her teammate Aine O’Sullivan was unlucky to miss out on the medals.
In the long jump there were great efforts in the various age groups by Ciara Smyth, Niamh Cahill, Ella Barry and Isabella Gogan, while Orlaith Quinn (U-16) and Isabella Gogan (U-12) did very well in their high jumps.
Some of Cushinstown’s younger athletes were having their first taste of success at the indoor championships and James Bellew (U-12) jumped a new personal best of 1.30m to win high jump gold and Eamon Armstrong (U-12) gave a very strong performance to finish third in the 60m sprint.
On the track there were superb performances in the 60m hurdles, with all the club’s athletes speeding through to the finals. Mollie White won U-14 gold and Ella Barry U-13 silver, with Aine O’Sullivan, Ciara Smyth, Niamh Quinn, Loclainn Harris, Isabella Gogan and Lee Callaghan all very unlucky to miss out on the medals.
There were also many fantastic performances in the highly competitive 60m sprints. Abi Sheehy won her heat but unfortunately had to pull out of the final due to injury, and other great sprints were run by Niamh Quinn, Loclainn Harris, Isabella Gogan and Ella Barry.
Elsewhere, on a bitterly cold day at Dunboyne AC, Zoe Mohan took part in the Winter Throws competition. In the hammer Zoe threw a new PB of 41.07m to finish top of her age group and sixth overall, while in the shot putt she also threw a new personal best of 10.80m to finish second overall.