Successful Long Cold Day at Ferrybank Sports
The first track meet of the season got underway at the RSC on Sunday last with the staging of Ferrybank Open Sports. Over thirty young athletes from West Waterford travelled for this very competitive first meet of the year. Crowds travelled from all over the southern half of the country for the opportunity to compete on the track. Such were the numbers competing that it took over three hours to run off the sprint events. In the under 11 girls they had over sixty competitors in the sprint event. Because of the delay with the sprints it was 3.30 before the distance events got underway and after 5 by the time the event finished. It is always cold at the RSC but the fact that a biting cold wind was blowing down the track all day didn’t make it easy for athletes, parents and officials as they waited to compete in their chosen events. Despite the huge numbers West Waterford athletes had a very successful day with many reaching finals and several brining home medals.
Treble for Jarleth Hurney
It was a great day for Jarleth Hurney who won three gold medals. His first came in the sprint event where he led all the way to the line. In the 300m he was third coming off the final bend and sprinted up the final 100m to take his second gold. He completed the hat trick with a jump of 3m.52 to win the long jump. We had lots of young athletes who were competing on the track for the first time and they all enjoyed the experience. They will be back again on April 23rd for the county championships which will be a much shorter day with just the seven Waterford clubs competing so well done to Andy, Evan, Madeline, Eadaoin, Shane, Cian, Jamie and Breifne.
Silver and Bronze for Lia and Ellie Mae
The under 10 girls who have been with us since last September showed they were well up to the standard at this tough meet. Ellie Mae Doherty in a very large field made it through the heats to reach the final of the under 10 sprint. The long jump was a very close fought contest with West Waterford athletes Lia Kiely taking second and Ellie Mae third with only a centimetre separating them. Isobel Daly wasn’t far behind with a jump of 2m64 and Éile de Paor jumped 2m34. A note of thanks to Brian Dempsey for the work he has done with our young long jumpers over the past few weeks.
Silver and Bronze for Anna and Bronze for Mario
While the Sprints were taking place on one side of the track the hurdles were under way on the back straight with the younger athletes getting their first taste of competing over the barriers. Anna Rochford put in a great run to make it through to the final where she finished 3rd. Mario Bradatan Zakis was also in top form winning his heat and finishing 3rd in the final. After a long wait this big group of athletes competed in their 500m. Anna Rochford put in a great finish to take silver and there were also top ten finishes for Mario and newcomer Olan Deveraux with Eoghan Kenny also running well on their first day on the track. Mario’s dad Ravis joined us this week and has started coaching the under 11 age group and we are delighted to have him on board.
Bronze for Relay under 11
We had two relay teams competing under 11. It was tough to make it on to the team and the run off for places was very close. Ruth Walsh, Grace Hodge, Alicia Radley and Anna Rochford were the top four on the day and they finished 3rd of the twelve teams competing just behind Ferrybank and Carrick on Suir. Our under 10 team of Ellie may Doherty, Éile de Paor, Isobel de Paor and Lia Kiely have a very good run to finish 7th as they were all a year out of age. Well done to Katie Mai, Clodagh Mills and Sarah O’Reilly on competing for the club.
We also had a number of older athletes competing on the day Saoirse Kinsella made it all the way to the final in the girls under 12 80m. Well done also to Ava Kiely, Patrick Mullaney, Nathan Butler and Roisin Dillon who all competed under 12. Shannon Radley and Sheoda Kinsella tried out all the under 13 events while Sarah Hallissey competed in the sprint and hurdles under 14. Fiadh de Paor and Sarah O’Riordan competed in the under 15 800m. Fiadh took the lead from the start and did all the work into the strong headwind. It took its toll on the sprint to the finish and she was caught in a blanket finish and took 4th place. Sarah O’Riordan ready a steady race but got caught behind a big bunch that were hard to pass and she finished in 8th place.
Well done to all the athletes who competed on Sunday. It was great to have such a good turnout for the first meet of the year. If anyone is going to Kilmacow on Easter Monday can you text me your results.
County Championships on Sunday 23rd
The seven clubs in Waterford will come together to compete in the county championships on Sunday 23rd. There is no programme yet for the day but there will be events in all age groups. This is a good event for all our young athletes to compete at so we will be hoping for a big turn out on the day and the event starts at 11and usually finishes about 2.30
Training Over Easter Holidays
Training will continue as usual on Wed @6pm. There will be no training on Good Friday. We will be back again the following week on Wed 20th and Friday 22nd.
