Medal joy for St Peter’s athletes

THE St Peter’s club was well represented at the annual Carlingford road races hosted by Glenmore AC on Friday evening in perfect running conditions.

Niamh Allen made her debut in the Girls Under-9 race and showed great potential to finish in the medals, while her sister Dearbhla also got among the medals in the Under-11 race where she showed her trademark late surge from far down the large field of runners.

The Under-13 age group had the biggest St Peter’s representation, with four athletes running over the 1,000m course.

Lucy Smyth led the girls home with a really promising finish, closely followed by Ellie Smyth who also had a good run. Niamh Brady finished strongly in her return to distance running, as did Isabeal Fitzpatrick.

Sean Allen ran in the Boys Under-13 and finished very comfortably in the middle of the pack, while in the 5k road race it was left to the Rogers brothers to battle out for the bragging rights, with Andrew just finishing in front of Brendan.

The previous weekend the Setanta Games took place at the Lourdes Stadium in Drogheda where the club had some good performances.

Julie McLoughlin won three medals with a bronze in the shot putt, bronze in the 80m sprint and silver in the 500m, while Lucy Brennan won a bronze in the girls under twelve’s sprint and silver in the Long jump were she also got a new PB of 4.14.

Orla McLoughlin won silver in the girls under 10 Long jump and also ran very well in both of her races.

In the boys under 13 Mark Litchfield continued to impress at middle distance on the track with another emphatic victory in the 500m, following his silver medal win in the 80m sprint.

Rory McLoughlin, who has enjoyed the lions share of medals at under 14 on the track in Louth this year, added to his 2017 medal collection with gold in the sprint, 2nd in the 500m and 3rd in the Long jump.

The Louth men and women’s teams both qualified for the finals of the National League with good performances from St Peter’s Athletes on duty.

Emily Rogers won the high jump and was third in the hammer, Mark Rogers was first in the 400m hurdles and first in the pole vault, Gabriel Bell was 2nd in the Long jump and 4th in the high jump and Tom McGrane was 4th in the Discus. Gabriel Bell and Conor Durnin both ran legs in the 4x100 relay as did Mark Rogers in the 4x400 relay.

Club coach Kathleen McConnell was selected as a coach on the Irish team that competed at the Celtic Games last weekend, and best wishes go to high jumper Emily Rogers as she departs for the USA on an athletics scholarship - a fantastic reward for her dedication to her sport.