Juvenile Notes, 26th July 2010

West Waterford Athletes capture Three All Ireland Titles

Our athletes were in action in Tullamore last weekend in the third and final day of the All Ireland individual championships. They won a hat trick of titles and also a silver and bronze medal adding to the success already achieved on day one and two of the championships.

Walk Title and Record for Kate Veale  

Kate Veale had her last competition of the domestic season before she heads for Singapore and she showed that all is going to plan with a great win in the under 17 walk. The under 17, 18 and 19 walks were all held together bringing together the best young walkers in the country and making it a very competitive race. From the start Kate was up front leading the bunch and with every lap she went further and further away from the field winning in a new record of 13.16. Kate will head to Singapore on August 9th and will compete on August 21st in the 5000m walk. All in west Waterford will be cheering her on and wishing her the best of luck. On hand to lead the cheering will be her parents Brid and James, Bro Lennon and Mary Ashe who are all travelling to support Kate.

Hat Trick of Title for Kate Hickey   

Kate Hickey has been biding her time quietly in the wings all summer finishing in the runner up positions in the school and club competitions keeping her best performance for the last competition of the season. Where better to have your best competition of the year and record a personal best than the All Ireland championships. This is exactly what Kate did lying third after two rounds she threw a massive 31m throw to lead the competition and when her arch rival Hannah O Sullivan also threw over 31m Kate responded with a throw of 31m 77 to win by just two centimetres. This was Kate’s third discus title in a row and firmly establishes her as an up and coming thrower.

Shot Putt Title for Zoe Scanlon

Although better known as a Discus thrower Zoe Scanlon proved she is no slouch in the shot putt circle when a throw of 10m 50 won her the gold medal in the under 18 event. Zoe thus completed a shot and discus double at this years All Ireland championships.

Silver for Ciara Scanlan

At last years championships Ciara was disappointed to finish just outside the medals but it strengthened her resolve to work hard over the winter and with the help of Len Thomlinson she has made great stride this year. Throwing close to her pb Ciara threw 39m 45 to finish second in a very competitive under 17 hammer.

Bronze for Seamie Fennell

In his first year of competition Seamie made it through to the All Ireland in three events but he had to wait until the final event the 200m to made it on to the podium. Seamie came safely through the qualifying round winning his heat. The final was a very close fought affair with second and third neck and neck for most of the race and crossing the line only inches apart with Seamie taking the bronze. We had two other athletes competing in the All Ireland for the first time. Shane Kenneally improved on his best throw in the shot putt throwing 13m 26 to finish fifth in the event. Shane also finished 5th in the discus event throwing close to 40m. Shane O’Riordan was in action in the under 14 boys walk where he finished 8th in a very fast race.

International Selection for Zoe Scanlon and Lisa Houlihan

This years Celtic International will be held in Athlone on August 7th. West Waterford will have two representatives on the team Zoe Scanlon will defend her under 18 discus title and Lisa Houlihan will compete in the under 18 pole vault. We wish them both the best of luck.

Credit Union Awards for Zoe Scanlon and Thomas Houlihan  

The winners of the May and June Credit Union athletics awards were announced this week and both winners were West Waterford athletes. Zoe Scanlon won the May award. During the month of May Zoe won both the shot and discus at he Waterford Schools and Club Championships. She also won both events at the East Munster Schools Championships and won the discus at the Munster Schools Championships and the Munster Junior championships. Zoe was also the winner of the discus at the AAI Games in Castleisland where she threw over 38m for the first time for good measure she also won the shot that day.

Record breaking performance at the Irish Schools championships and the All Ireland Junior champion ships led to Thomas Houlihan being named the June winner. Thomas continues to push pole vault standards ever higher in Ireland and just recently ended his time in the juvenile ranks with another record winning performance in the under 19 All Ireland Championships. We look forward to his continued progress in this event at senior level.

All Ireland B Championships

Tullamore is once again the venue for the All Ireland B championships, which will be held on Sunday August 1st. We have a number of athletes travelling to this event:
Under 13 girls Lorna Cummins and Laura Cusack 100m & long jump
Under 14 boys Sean Curran 800m &long jump, Eoin Dwyer high jump &shot Tholom Reddy 800m & shot
Under 14 girls Cliona Ryan 800m & shot
Under 16 girls Lucy O’Brien 800m
Check the AAI website for a programme of events John Mc Grath will be looking after our athletes on the day.

Araglin Sports

Once again we rounded off our season with a successful trip to Araglin Open Sports. Over twenty athletes enjoyed a night at the sports and carnival. There were winning performance from Sinead Flynn 100m, Laura Cusack 600m walk, Lucy O’ Brien 600m, Eoin O’Brien 100m, Sean Curran 600m and Declan Power finished off his juvenile career with a win in the 1500m. Claudia Quarry finished 2nd in the under 10 80m as did Michael Power under 12, Lorna Cummins under 13, and Sean Curran under 14 with Sean also finishing 2nd in the 1500m. Tholom Reddy was second in the under 14 600m and third in the 1500m and there were also third place finishes for Chloe Fennell 100m, Sinead Flynn walk, Sean Ronayne 80m, and Laura Cusack 100m.

The most exciting part of any open sports is of course the relays and West Waterford fielded five relay teams with three of them coming among the medal winners. First in action were the under 10 team of Claudia Quarry, Sean Ronayne, Caoimhe Earley and Alan Curran who ran very well to finish in third place. Our under 12 team of Michael Power, Chloe Fennell, Aine Flynn and Aidan O’ Brien also finished third. Our team of Keelan Dee Carter, Conor Coleman, Claudia Quarry and Judith Campbell were just outside the medals. In the final relay of the night we had a winning performance from our under 14 team of Sinead Flynn, Lorna Cummins, Tholom Reddy and Sean Curran with our team of Laura Cusack, Jordan O’ Riordan, Eoin O’ Brien and Michael Power just missing out on the medals.

Training has now finished for the summer as most of our athletes and of course our coaches will take a well-deserved break in August. Best of luck to our athletes competing in Tullamore, Athlone and of course Singapore over the next few weeks.

We look forward to seeing everyone back in action for cross country training on Wednesday September 1st @ 6pm