Emotive day ends on a high for Boyne
WELCOME sunshine greeted the athletes as they turned out for the Louth Pre-Championships in Lourdes Stadium, and among them were a strong contingent from Boyne AC as they returned to action following recent tragedy.
Opening the competition, a heartwarming tribute to young Killian Ekhator was delivered by Athletics Louth chairman Micheal Mulligan, followed by a minute’s applause from all those present in memory of the talented runner who passed away recently.
It was then down to the business of the day, and getting the ball rolling for Boyne AC was Nathan Robertson who secured their first medal of the day with a silver in the 60m sprint.
Next to the track, Edison Ekhator certainly proved he is following in his brother’s footsteps with a super win in his 80m event.
In the Girls U-10 sprint Chloe Cooney, recovering well from injury, took a fine silver, while in the boys race Calum Byrne and Cormac McEvoy completed a one-two success.
The U-11s also dominated the podium, with Sholah Lawrence and Oliver Carolan winning their respective 80m events and Alex Robertson hot on Oliver’s heels in second place.
Shea O’Donnell, more known for his distance running, took a fine silver in the U-12 boys sprint, with clubmate Sean Cummins also gracing the podium in third place.
Alex Devine is putting his sprint training to good use and he stormed to victory in the U-13 Boys 80m, followed closely by Amitesh Bala who finished in the bronze medal position.
Saran Meite clocked a superb 12.9 seconds for her 100m sprint to easily take gold, while in the boys race Neil Culhane ran well to take silver.
Lily Cummins and Anna Faulkner, also better known for their distance events, both took podium places in the U-15 sprint, finishing first and third respectively, while in the U-17 Girls race Subomi Oladimeji ran well to take bronze.
No stranger to the podium, albeit usually in middle distance events, Ruuarcan O’Gibne clocked 11.6sec to take gold in the U-19 Boys 100m.
The longer distance races were the next events on the track, and once again Boyne featured heavily in the medal haul.
Nathan Robertson was back for more, taking another silver in the Boys U-8 300m, and in the U-10 Girls 500m Chloe Cooney took the gold medal, with Ally Fennell in second, and Tadgh Forde Dunne was runner-up in the boys race.
Sholah Lawrence was her usual smiley self as she sailed across the line to win the U-11 600m, while in the boys race a super sprint in the last 20m saw Alex Robertson surge from third to first, with Lorcan Forde Dunne taking the second spot.
Eimear Cooney ran a strong race to finish second in the Girls U-13 600m, while it was an easy win for Shea O’Donnell in the boys race, with Emmet McEvoy running well to take third.
Boyne were back on the podium in the Boys U-13 race, with a silver medal finish for Paddy Price and clubmate Caelan Quinn taking the bronze.
The U-14 Girls had two laps of the track to race, with Eabha Cosgrove and Saran Meite taking silver and bronze respectively, while in the boys race Danny Nugent topped the podium, with Neil Culhane taking silver.
In the U-15 Girls race Caer NiGhibne stormed to victory in a super 2:26.9, with Anna Faulkner second in 2:34.8.
Calum Sheedy and Christian Quinn took first and third places in the Boys U-16 800m, while in the U-17 Boys race Tom Cummins led from the gun to take a well-earned gold. Tom’s sister Eva also took gold in the U-19 Girls race, and Ruarcan O’Gibne clocked a speedy 2:02.7 for victory in the boys event, with Tadgh Everitt Thompson running well to finish third.
In the field events Boyne again performed strongly, with Caoimhe Martin getting things off to a great start with gold in the U-10 turbo javelin, throwing 11.07m, with Ally Fennell in third.
Oliver Carolan moved up an age to take silver in the U-12 turbo with a fine throw of 20.72 and also took silver in the U-11 long jump (3.69m).
There was another gold for Edison Ekhator in the U-10 Boys long jump (2.83m), while Naiya Semple jumped 2.50 to take silver in the Girls long jump.
Gold went to Aaron Fennell as he achieved 4.12m in the U-13 boys long jump and he also took bronze in the U-14 Boys shot, while Cathal Monaghan had a 4.51 long jump in the U-15 Boys to take bronze.