West Waterford Athletes make their mark at Leevale Sports
UCC Sports arena was the venue for Leevale Open Sports on Sunday last.  At 9.30 on Sunday morning thirty-seven young athletes headed off from Dungarvan.  In Cork they joined young athlete from clubs in Cork, Limerick and Tipperary who like them were ready to run jump and throw as fast as high and as long as they could. It was a busy day for coaches and parents as we moved from event to event encouraging our athletes. Lisa Houlihan was first in action and made it a winning start with a flawless run in the hurdles.  Later in the day Lisa went on to win the under 16 Long Jump and High Jump and finished third in the 100m.

Dean Beecher was the first of the boys onto the winning rostrum when he finished 2nd in the under 8 60m sprint. Diarmuid Harty and Cian Fagan both ran well in the heats of the under 9 boys 60m and both made it through to the final. Later Cian finished 7th in a very fast 300m. Eoin Ryan showed he has the makings of a distance runner when finishing fifth in the under 10 300m.  Our under 10 girls were kept busy competing in the sprint, 300m, ball throw and long jump. Rachel Wyley, Caoimhe Dwyer and Chloe Beecher all qualified for the sprint final. Caoimhe Dwyer finished 3rd in the sprint and also had a fine run when finishing 4th in the 300m. Meanwhile in the ball throw Chloe Beecher took bronze.

Kate Mc Grath had a memorable first outing winning the first of her three trophies when she finished third in the under 11 80m. Later in the day she finished 3rd in the 600m and collected her third trophy in the relay. The under 10 and 11 combined to field two teams in the relay.  The team of Caoimhe Dwyer, Chloe Beecher, Kate Mc Grath and Rachel Wyley finished 2nd while the team of Aisling Mullaney, Darina Shanley, Caragh Mc Carthy and Erica Crotty finished 4th.

Richard Casey was another to reach a final when he qualified in the under 12 boys 80m and Tholm Reddy came with a flying sprint at the end of the 600m to come within inches of making it into the top three. Richard, Tholm, Eoin Dwyer and young Oisin O’Mahony combined to run a great relay to finish second in the boys under 13.

Our girls under 12 tried their hand at high jump and long jump.  Sara Wyley made it trough to the final of the sprint and came with a late run in the 600m to finish 5th just pipping Cliona Ryan on the line. Sara, Cliona, Margaret Frost and Gemma Wyley finished 4th in the under 13 Relay and the team of Dominique O’Mahony,Holly Mc Grath, Michelle Sheehan and Sara Jane Morrissey finished 6th in the same race. Earlier in the day Gemma Wyley had a fine run in the under 13 600m. She stayed up with the pace for the first 350m. Going down the back straight she took the lead and made her bid for home. She was overhauled close to the line by the fast finishing cork athletes finishing third in the race.

Cara Mullaney took third place in the under 14 Shot and also made it through to the final of the under 14 sprint. Newcomer Lucy O’Brien showed the benefits of the last few weeks training when she finished second in the under 14 800m. Cara, Lucy Chloe Lake and Chloe Murphy also competed in the under 15 girls relay.

Robbie Mulligan showed he is a young man with a promising future in athletics with a fine run in the under 14 800m Robbie, David Early, Aidan Bergin and Cory Long had a fine run when winning the under 15 boys relay.
Claire Collins and Rebecca Maher made it a West Waterford one two in the girls under 17 800m.  Claire came very close to equalling her personal best when finishing second in the senior womens high jump. Our girls under 17 team of Claire, Rebecca, Lisa Houlihan and Clodagh Gallagher finished second in the relay. Michael Tutty had a good run in the under 16 boys 100m against some very tough opposition from the Cork athletes. Lughiadh  O Mahony ran well in an under 16 800m that was dominated by athletes from Togher A.C. Declan Power competed  in the senior mens 1500m and established a new personal best time rounding off  a very successful day for West Waterford. Our thanks to all the parents who travelled and helped out on the day.

Busy Week Ahead as Track Season Gets into Full Swing

Wednesday 23rd
The Waterford Secondary Schools Championships will be held at the R.S.C. starting at 12.30.  All the local schools have entered this event and from the size of the entries it looks like being one of the most competative events in recent years.

Thursday 24th  
The first leg of the Primary school sports will take place on Thursday night in St. Augustines College with the first race getting under way at 6.30. This will be the heats for the big schools.  Please come early and give yourself plenty of time for parking.

Friday 25th
The first session of the county championships will be held in the R.S.C. on Friday.  The bus will leave Dungarvan Garda Station at 4.25 and stops at Dannys Centra and also at the Friary. There will be events for all ages from under 9 to senior.  Because of the championships there will be no training on Friday night. There will be a sprint and long run in every age group. There will be ball throw/shot for girls and high jump from under 12 up.  There will be long jump for boys in all age groups javelin for boys under 13 up and discus for boys under 14 up. We look forward to seeing all those who have been training over the last few weeks in action at these championships.

All in West Waterford send their best wishes to Darragh O’Riordan and we are glad to hear he is back home and on the road to recovery.