Busy spell for St Peter’s
THE track & field season is currently at its busiest time and on bank holiday Monday St Peter’s AC had three squads compete in the Leinster Team competition - a fantastic event which give athletes a runout on the Tullamore track as well as giving them the experience of working within a team.
The U-15 Girls team did exceptionally well considering all four athletes are eligible for the same event next year. They had great performances in the 800m, Hurdles, Long Jump, High Jump and 4x100m relay. The girls anxiously waited for the final tally and to their delight it was announced they had finished in second place and collected their well-earned Leinster silver medals.
The four girls were Niamh Brady, Judith Bell, Lucy Smyth and Julie McLoughlin.
The club also had teams compete in the Girls Under-13 and Under-11 competition and although both teams found themselves out of the medals they competed well and really enjoyed their day and the team experience.
The Under 13 team comprised Ellie Smyth, Isabeal Fitzpatrick, Lucy Brennan and Dearbhla Allen and the Under-11s Mia Finnegan, Orla McLoughlin and Emily and Hannah O’Reilly.
On Saturday the Leinster Pairs and Under-12 and Under-13 Championships took place, again in Tullamore, and it was a case of so near and yet so far for some of the St Peter’s athletes.
Making their Leinster Championship debuts were the Under-9 pair of Aoibhinn Boyle and Niamh Allen who were very close to coming away with provincial medals. They finished in fourth place in the Long Jump, with Aoibhinn achieving 2.72m and Niamh 2.87m.
Emily and Hannah O’Reilly both had brave runs in the Under-10 Girls 500m and in the Under-11 Girls pairs St Peter’s had Orla McLoughlin and Catherine Carey who both had good performances in the Long Jump.
In the individual championships Harry O’Reilly ran a great heat to qualify for his provincial final, but running two 600s on the same day is a tough ask for an Under-12 and Harry finished just outside the podium positions.
Dearbhla Allen had a good run in the Girls Under-12 600m and was very unlucky as she was the first of the runners-up not to make the final.
The Under-13 age group had three St Peter’s athletes in competition. Ellie Smyth and Lucy Brennan took part in the high jump and both started confidently, but it just wasn’t their day and both bowed out gracefully having cleared 1.30m.
Isabeal, who recently returned from an injury, took part in the very competitive U-13 80m sprint, narrowly missing out on a semi-final place.
The day finished off with the inter-county relays and Lucy Brennan ran the first leg for the Louth team as they stormed to victory.
The ever-willing Tom McGrane travelled to the Mary Peters Track in Belfast to compete in the Northern Ireland Championships and yet again came home with silverware when he won a bronze medal in the Over-55 Shot Putt.