Gold and Silver Medals at National Combined Events

National Juvenile Combined Championships

The National juvenile Combined Championships were held in Nenagh last weekend. Gavin Carlin put in a series of brilliant performances that won him the Gold medal and U14 Title which he took over from our own Ryan McDaid who won this title last year. Gavin started the day well taking the lead with a very good long jump, 4.61m, with team mate Lorcan McMenamin also jumping well, 4.58m to take 2nd place in the long jump. Gavin was 2nd in the hurdles, 10.18 secs. narrowly beaten on the line but still amassing good points. Gavin then went on to have a p.b. in the shot with 9.58m followed by a p.b. of 1.52m in the High Jump giving him a very good lead going into his least favoured event the 800m. Lorcan running well to finish 3rd in the 800m with Gavin 4th had done more than enough to secure his Gold medal with a total of 2443 points from John Francis, St. Abbans on 2304 points and Francis Egan, Ferrybank on 2101 points with Lorcan just out of the medals in 4th place on 1937 points. Also competing very well in the U14 competition were Pauric McLaughlin 7th, Matthew Kelly 8th, both out of their age group, and Christopher O'Leary 9th.

The U14 Girls Championships was equally exciting for Finn Valley with 11-year-old Jodie Stewart going into the lead after achieving a new p.b. in the long jump of 4.10m, joint first in the High Jump with club mate Aileen Brennan both girls clearing 1.33m and delighted with their new personal bests, a 2nd place in the shot putt with 6.73m and 2nd place in the hurdles 11.2 secs. Jodie had a lead of 75 points going into the final event the 800m and despite a great effort on her part just lost the gold medal by less than a second from Sacha Haverty, Craughwell A.C. on 1985 points and Jodie on 1974 points, Roisin Conneran, Naas A.C. 3rd on 1889 points. This was a particularly good performance from Jodie considering that she is still eligible for this age group next year as indeed is Aileen Brennan who finished 8th on 1385 points and Donna McBride 10th on 1272 points. Laura Feely competed in the shot putt in the U14 girls and had a great competition with 1st place and a new p.b. of 10.49 metres. This will give Laura great confidence for the upcoming Ulster Championship and indeed to defend her U13 Scottish Indoor Title next month at the Kelvin Hall.

Ryan McDaid last years U14 Champion was competing out of his age group in the U16.

Championships and put in a very solid performance with a particularly good high jump finishing 1st with 1.50m and easily winning his heat of the 800m. Ryan finished in 7th place overall.

Ciara Hegarty and Ciara Gallen competing for the first time in combined events did very well in the U16 Championships finishing 14th and 15th respectively.

Geraldine Kelly was our only competitor in the U18 Girls and did very well to finish in 5th place.

Maurice Boyle, Stefan Connolly and Mark McGowan contested the U18 Championships and although all are out of their age group did very well to finish in 5th, 6th and 7th places respectively.

Ulster and Northern Ireland Masters Championships

Dominic Bonner continued his great form with a 2nd place finish in the Northern Ireland and Ulster Championship in Bangor last weekend with a tremendous finish between himself and Mark Kirk, BAAC. Joe Brennan also put in a terrific run finishing 4th with Mark Connolly 10th, Pat Hegarty 16th, Bernard McCabe 26th and Pat McCrudden 74th. Finn Valley won the Silver medals in the team event just 4 points behind North Belfast on 28 points with Newcastle 3rd on 81 points.

Kay Byrne was our sole representative in the Masters Women Championships and ran an excellent race to win the Silver medal behind Bride Trearty of Cranford with Helena Crossan, Letterkenny A.C. in 3rd place.

Jeff Cassin

Jeff Cassin will be competing in a 50K Walk in Spain next month to try to get the qualifying time for the Olympic Games. We wish him the best of luck.

Next Weekend

Our juveniles are travelling to Athlone this weekend to compete in the All-Ireland Cross-Country Relay Championships and also in the B Cross-Country Championships.

Training

Training continues at 7.30 p.m. on Tuesday and Thursday and 10.30 a.m. on Sunday mornings. Final preparations are now being made for the trip to Scotland for the Scottish Juvenile Indoor Championships next month.

Bernie Alcorn, P.R.O.