Crossan wins gold silver and bronze at national finals.

Juvenile Athletics

July 2010

As the coaches and athletes headed to tullamore for the first weekend ofcompetition from the national juvenile finals, hopes were high that the club would return with medals. The return trip was boosted by a haul of one gold, one silver and two bronze medals.

Arlene Crossan U/12 girls can be very proud of her achievements over the weekend. As this very dedicated young girl stepped on to the track on Saturday afternoon, having qualified through the heats of the 60 metres to take her place in the final, Arlene took the bronze medal in a time of 8.77. on Sunday morning she lined up for the U12 long jump, as the rounds progressed Arlene moved up the placings to make it into the top 8 for three more jumps. On her last jump arlene assured of silver but to her determination she powered down the runup to finish with a jump of 4.56m and take the gold medal. Shortly after her long jump she then had to line out for her 600m final, as the gun went and the field started out and with 300m to go Arlene begin her move to the front of the group to cross the line in silver postion. Well done Arlene . Darragh Toal is one of the clubs long time athletes, even at U13 level he is becoming one of the clubs up and coming male sprinters , Darragh also lined up in his U13 80 heat to comfortably qualify for his final later in the afternoon. As the eight young athletes sprinted down the track in the final to the delight of the club he crossed the lined to take the bronze medal in a time of 10.73, darragh also competed in the long jump.

U/12
Jordan Ryan and Michael McGrory competing in both the 60m and 600m having just missed out making the 60m final on Saturday lined up for the 600m on Sunday morning. As the group hit the first bend McGrory was with the leading pack throughout the race Michael fought hard to finish in fourth place in 1.47.98. jordan also finished well and both boys will be back again.

U/13
Oisin Toal and Lochlan Purdy competed in the 80m just missing out in making the final on Saturday. Oisin also lined up the the 800m final on Sunday, having pushed the leading group hard for two laps crossed the line in fourth place with a time of 1.45.93.Ethan McCrossan also joined oisin in the 800m and will learn from this experience, Ethan finished in 1.57.

U/14
Our sole entry at this level was Natasha McArdle who took on the 800m, Natasha is one of the clubs top middle distance runners fought well over the two laps to finish in a creditable fourth place just outside the medals in a time of 2.26.08

U/16
Rose Boyle competed for the first time in her new event the 250m hurdles, Rose finished in 2nd place in her heat to take her placein the final, Rose was flawless in her final and as she cross the line in a blanket finish she had to for what seemed ages to be placed 4th, but not down hearted Rose took two and a half seconds off her heat time for a new P.B 37.61. Luke Bonner a newcomer to the club on his first outing to Tullamore made his mark and qualified for the 100m final, luke should be well pleased as making a final at these level is no easy task and to finish in fifth place (12.31) shows there is more to come from this young man.

U17
Ciaran Lynch also took on the tough 300m hurdles and a bad start left Ciaran fighting hard to get back into the race, but with determination Ciaran fought the whole way just failing to make the final

U18
The club is lucky to have two young ladies at this age group and both Monica O`Connor and Catherine Boyle have had many trips to Tullamore. Catherine competed in the 100m and with her just back from injury it was good to see no long term effects and will set her up all for the relays in two weeks time.

Monica O`Connor has been the clubs long time middle distance athlete for years and has always given her all and this weekend was no different . on Sunday morning Monica also tried out her new event the 300m where she made the final and finished in 5th place (43.25), later in the day she took part in her usual event the 800m final , Monica as always, never gives up and fought with the leading bunch for two laps to finish in a time of 2.34.23.

Well done to all the athletes who competed over the weekend. Thanks to coaches Anthony Ward, Sharon Bradley and Lauren O`Connell for their help and time over the weekend.

Next outing will be third day of these championships and also club and county relays in two weeks time.