It’s outdoor season!
A great stretch in the day means one thing in the world of athletics. Yes, it’s outdoor season! Farewell indoors, it’s summer time. Athletics clubs the length of the land are moving outside and competition is commencing. The normal run of events is County, Munster, National championships. This sequence was affected by Covid regulations in 2020 and 2021 so there was an excitement in the air last Sunday for day 1 of the AAI Cork County Outdoor Championships U12-U19.
It was an early start for the hammer throwers, who tend to get an early or late slot for health and safety reasons (sometimes the hammer has a mind of its own!). Fintan O’Grady in the U14 came home with the silver with a throw of 25.2m. Diarmuid Towey was very unlucky in the U16 competition to foul his throws, but will certainly learn from this competition before the Munster championships. Staying in throwing, Mikey Hurley was just outside medal position in the U12 turbo javelin, coming fifth in a field of nineteen with a throw of 18.45m. Kotryna Pacerinskaite in the U18 shot putt threw 12.98m to secure gold.
In U12 events, Micheal Quirke felt it wasn’t his day in the high jump but competition was fierce, and he made up for it in his long jump with a great bronze medal performance. Muireann Dingivan and Ruth O’Flynn gave it welly in the 600m race and the long jump, with Ruth also competing in the shot putt. No medals but huge effort in an extensive field.
Cara Burke in U14 competed in the high jump, shot putt and sprint hurdles and was very happy with her performance. Hannah Doyle also threw the 2kg shot in U14. David Towey Jnr had a fantastic 600m, winning his heat, and coming out second overall on times with 1:49.32. David and clubmate Eoin Toland also competed in the sprint hurdles with David securing a bronze medal.
Long hurdles were a new event for the club this year. Hurdles are tough with the change in cadence throwing off even well trained athletes. Katie Linehan and Louise Mullins represented Fanahan McSweeney in the U15. Louise came second and Katie third, a great result for the club. The two girls and their clubmate Vanessa Burke came through their heats to qualify for the 100m sprint final, a proud moment for our club. Louise came second with a time of 13.66s. In the jumps competition, Orla MacCallum won silver in the high jump with 1.43m and competed in her first pole vault competition.
It was a great day for the club. The atmosphere in MTU was friendly rivalry, Cork athletes supporting Cork athletes. It was a well-run event and our thanks to Cork Athletics. Back next Sunday for another day of competition and looking forward to it!