West Waterford athletes capture 10 Munster Titles and create 2 new records at Munster Track and Field Championships
Oh what a day! Last Saturday was not a day for the feint hearted. The rain teemed down all day long but in our usual fashion we just pretended it wasn’t there and got on with the job in hand. We had over twenty athletes competing and the first Ciara Scanlan stepped into the circle at 9.30 and the last Zoe Scanlon did not finish until after 4.30 but despite the bad weather there were some marvellous results for our athletes and even a few personal best performances on the day.
Record Breaking Performances from Kate and Lisa
Kate Veale continues to astound us with the progress she is making in the walking events and she was not put off by the rain the wind the wet track or even the flying discus that hit the track as she strode to victory in the under 15 girls walk. She showed a clean pair of heel to the under 15 and 16 walkers as she circled the track with confidence lengthening her lead with each lap. Such was her margin of victory that she took almost a minute off the existing record completing the five laps in a little over 9 mins. Kate was not the only record breaker on the day as our pole vaulters got to grips with a very difficult cross wind and timing your jumps to coincide with the lull in the wind became an important tactical consideration. Lisa Houlihan soon got the measure of the conditions and vaulted her way to first place and a new Muster record of 2m50cms. Lisa went on to finish second in the 80m Hurdles and third in the long jump to return home with a complete medal set.
Discus Titles for Kate Hickey Zoe Scanlon and Stephen Mc Mahon
Given the weather conditions and the slippery condition of the circle the throws were a constant worry on Saturday with safety more a consideration than getting in a big throw. Stephen Mc Mahon was the first of out three winners on the day. Stephen is new to this event and showed he is beginning to master the difficult technique involved in this event with some fine throws and producing a 28m 71 to win his first Munster Title. There was a first Munster title too for Kate Hickey who again underlined how much she has improved over the winter with a throw of 32m 15 to win the girls title with two mts to spare over her nearest rival. Zoe Scalon had to wait until late in the afternoon to add the under 16 title to the under 15 one she won last year with a fine throw of over 32 m. Earlier in the day Zoe had finished 2nd in the javelin and on Sunday finished fourth in the shot to qualify for all three events in the All Ireland Championships. Ciara Scanlon got to the final of the under 15 hammer, discus and shot. She won a bronze medal in the discus in fact throwing the same distance as the second place athlete but count back to their second best throws meant Ciara got the bronze. She earlier had a fine throw in the hammer finishing fifth in a very tight competition with only half a meter separating 2nd 3rd 4th and 5th. There was also a fifth place finish for Siobhan Nugent in the Shot where she threw over 8m 70.
First Munster Titles and Personal Best Performances for Claire Collins and Brandon Barry
Saturday was a difficult day for high jump apart from the cross winds there was a lot of water on the run up and of course there was no way of keeping the landing mat dry. Coming into the competition at 1m40 Claire Collins made little of the difficulties as she cleared 1m40, 1m45 and 1m50. It was then on to 1m55. During the course of this year Claire has made huge improvements at the high jump and has been clearing 1m50 in all her competitions however the next height has eluded her and even though she had come close to it on several occasions she just could not get the vital clearance at 1m55. Given last Saturday conditions no one expected that this would be the day she would finally make it and she surprised even herself when she sailed over the bar to take her first Munster title. Later in the day Claire finished second in the first running of the girls under 17 steeplechase. Brandon Barry is a newcomer to the sport of athletics having first competed in the schools event this year where he proved to be a natural at the triple jump. On Sunday last in blustery but at least fine conditions he produced a new personal best jump of 10m 27 to win the boys under 15 triple jump. On Saturday he had proved he was no slouch on the track either when he took silver in the 200m.
Another Pole Vault Title for Aisling Fennell and Thomas Houlihan
There was more success for West Waterford athletes in the pole vault events. Aisling Fennell and Emma Dunne renewed rivalry in the under 19 event with Aisling getting the better on this occasion and taking the title and Emma having to settle for second. They will renew rivalry in two weeks time at the All Ireland. Thomas Houlihan continues to dominate at under 17 level where another fine performance saw him add the under 17 title to his growing list and Michael Devine who will compete with Thomas next Saturday in Santry won the silver. Laurence Houlihan made his debut at Munster level on Saturday and finished in a tie for third place with Timov Jefison just outside the medals. In the under 16 girls Kate Laffen finished second and Anna Fennell third behind Lisa Houlihan to make it a clean sweep for West Waterford.
Improved Form sees Meg Fitzgerald take Hammer Title
Meg Fitzgerald has trained very hard over the last few week to improve on her performance in the schools event and this showed in much improved form on Saturday last which saw her win the girls under 17 title. In the same event Michelle Kenneally threw a personal best to take the bronze medal and on Sunday Ian Kenneally went one better than his sister when he won a silver in the boys under 18 event.
Silver for Declan Power Joe Conway and Dayle Kennedy
Declan Power was competing for the first time at the Munster club championships and he took it all in his stride winning a silver in the 3000m and a bronze in the 1500m under 18. Dayle Kennedy who transferred to West Waterford this year took silver in both the shot and discus under 19 while our final medal of the championships was won by Joe Conway in the boys under 17 walk where he dipped under 17m for the first time. Lughaidh O’ Mahony ran well in both his distance events but finished outside the medals. Leann Herlihy returned to competition after an ankle injury to take part in the long jump and just narrowly missed making it into the final jump off while Michael Tutty competed in both the 100m and 200m over the weekend.
Off to Antrim
This year the All Ireland Championships will be held in the Antrim Forum on the week end of the 5th and 6th of July and Tullamore on the following week end. The following athletes have qualified to compete and will travel to Antrim on Friday 4th leaving the Park Hotel at 10.00am
Lisa Houlohan P.V. Hurd. L.J. Brandon Barry T.J.
Zoe Scanlon Shot, Disc. Jav, Stephen Mc Mahon Disc. Shot
Emma Dunne P.V. Dayle Kennedy Shot Disc.
Aisling Fennell P.V. Thomas Houlihan P.V.
Claire Collins Steeplechase Michael Devine P.V.
Kate Veale Walk Ian Kenneally Ham.
Kate Hickey Shot Disc. Jav. Laurence Houlihan P.V.
Aaron Meehan Ham. and T. J. Declan Power 3000m
Sympathy
All in the club would like to extend sincere condolences to Rosemary O’Riordan and all the Queally family on the death of their mother and grandmother and to Tholm Reddy and his family on the death of his grandfather. May they rest in peace.
Flag Day
On Thursday and Friday we will hold our annual flag collection in town. This is a chance for our older juveniles to put something back into the club and we expect them all to be out over the two days. Many thanks to the parents who have volunteered to help. Helen is still collecting names so if you have not signed up do so straight away. Collection boxes will be available on Wed night at training.
