West Waterford Athletic ClubWest Waterford Athletic Club

Juvenille Notes, 17th March 2008

Track Season begins on Easter Monday
The first meeting of the 2008 track season gets underway on Easter Monday in Kilmacow where they will hold their annual Open Sports. There is a full programme of event s with sprints and middle distance events in all age groups and field events and relays in most ages.  West Waterford juvenile club is running a bus to this event leaving Danny’s Centra Abbeyside at 11a.m. on Easter Monday.  We look forward to a big turn out of our athletes for this event. Open Sports are few and far between so this is an opportunity for all to compete before the schools and county championships get under way in a few weeks time. 

Success for Ard Scoil an C.B.S. at Irish Mountain Running Championships
The Munster and Irish Mountain Running Championships were held jointly at Mount Clara in Millstreet last Wednesday and both the Ard Scoil and the C.B.S. made the journey to compete in this tough event. Conditions underfoot while they were wet were nothing like the mud experienced in Galway the week before.  As expected there was a very difficult climb and a step downhill section before the final short steep climb to the finish.  All the local athlete coped well with the conditions and their training over the last few months both at club level and in school prepared them well for this event. In the early events at junior level Leinster schools dominated matters but by the time it came to senior level Munster athletes were well in control filling the first three individual places and winning the team prize.  The Ardscoil duo of Elma Nugent and Jenny Hurley finished second and third in the race and with the support of Clogagh Gallagher and Claire Collins won the team event.  In the past the Ard Scoil girls had won both the junior and intermediate titles and had finishrd second and third in the senior event on a number of occasions but this was the first time they won the senior title.

In the intermediate girls Edel Roche crossed the finishing line in sixth place and the Ard Scoil team finished fourth.  When the Munster results were calculated it showed Edel among the medal winners in third place and the Ard Scoil team of Edel Roche, Rebecca Maher, Colleen Whelan, Kate Kennedy and Una Mc Grath finished second behind MICC Dunmanway.
The junior boys had the biggest field of the day with 102 athletes completing the course.  Led home by Colin Dunford in 12th place and Darragh O’Riordan in 15th the C.B.S. team finished third in the Irish Championship and first in the Munster Championship which was a great result for a group that are newcomers to the sport.  In the intermediate Declan Power showed the benefits of the training he has put in over the last few months when he finished 6th overall in the race and was the second Munster man home leading the C.B.S. team to second place in the Munster team event. Well done to all who competed.

Kate Off to Scotland
Next week Kate Veale will head to Scotland as a member of the Irish Schools Team to compete in the annual schools international against teams from Wales England and Scotland.  The longer distance of this event should suit Kate and we know she will give everything she on the day to the race. Kate has had a great cross country season and we wish her the best of luck in this event.

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