From Templemore to Castleisland
Last Saturday, a small but talented group of athletes travelled to Templemore for the Munster Junior and Masters Championships and Juvenile Combined Events.
In the junior competition, Kotryna Pacerinskaite won three gold medals. Her first was in the 4kg Shot Put where she threw 10.77m, far ahead of her nearest competitor (8.16m). In the 20lb Weight for Distance, she threw 6.42m, and her 4kg Hammer Throw was a whopping 6.30m further than the second placed athlete. Another great day out for Kotryna and a Munster record for her Weight for Distance on her first ever competition in this event.
In the U14 Boys Pentathlon, the Fanahan McSweeney duo of Sean Riordan and David Towey Jr were first and second respectively. Points are gained in each event so every place counts. In the 75m Hurdles, Sean came in first (11.93s) with David in second place (13.03s).
Long Jump was Sean number three (4.71m), David four (4.49m). 2.72kg Shot Putt Sean was second (10.30m), David third (8.28m). In High Jump David and Sean jumped the same height of 1.45m, but David won on count backs. In the 800m,
Sean won in a time of 2:20.47 with David in third at 2:35.87.An absolutely exhausting day of competing, but the success makes it all worthwhile. Final point tally was 2312 for Sean and 1844 for David.
In the U12 girls Pentathlon, Aoife Hutchinson had her first outing to come in at sixth overall with 912 points. Her best results were in the 600m (4th), Shot Put (3rd) and 60m Sprint (4th). Fantastic experience for Aoife in a highly competitive group of athletes.
Not leaving the kids take all the glory, our very own Seamus Fox won gold in his Pole Vault competition with a vault of 1.70m. He is truly inspirational and puts most half his age to shame. Well done Seamus!
THE SUNDAY ACTION
Sunday was the last day, Day 4, of the Cork County Juvenile Track and Field Championships in Castleisland. Starting with the Throws, it was a hugely successful day for the club. In the Hammer Throw, Eadhaoin Towey in U18, Diarmuid Towey in U17, and Fintan O’Grady in U15 all won gold. Fintan also won gold in his Discus event. Fresh from Saturday’s Combined Events, David Towey Jr took gold in the U14 Discus and High Jump. Aaron Horgan in the U12 Turbo Javelin was just pipped into fourth place.
More jumping success was had, with Molly Thornton in first place in the U12 High Jump and clubmate Aoife Hutchinson third. Siún Dingivan and Merveille Kumanzembe also jumped well in this event, but did not medal. Megan Kellaway came in fourth position in U13,
On the track, Liam O’Rourke won silver in the 300m and Thomas Burke third in the U11 60m. All of our runners deserve a huge shout out for their huge effort in the individual races. Despite not all medalling they competed fiercely and the hard work in training was evident. The U9 boys of Culann McCarthy, Aodhan Dingivan, Dylan Kennedy and Liam O’Rourke definitely proved that there is strength in numbers with a gold in the 4x100m relay. Success also with a bronze for the U11 boys team of Niall Towey, Noah Dunne, Eoghan Finn and Thomas Burke. The U11 girls relay of Katie Walsh, Azia Byrne, Zoe O’Connor and Aoibh McCarthy narrowly missed out in a place in their final and the U10s Saoirse Horgan, Lucy Thornton, Cara Hutchinson and Sophie Cohen came third in their heat and fifth in their final. Also competing on the day were Rachel Lynch, Lauren O’Brien and Shane Sweetnam, who despite not medalling, gave it 100% and showed that the future is bright for Fanahan McSweeney AC’s budding superstars.
A special thank you to all the supporters who transported the squad to Templemore and Castleisland. The bag packers, lunch makers, those shouts of enthusiastic encouragement, without you the club would not have had the success it had last weekend.