3 Medals and 4 Personal Best Performances for West Waterford Athletes at National Championships
Day 2 and 3 of the National Juvenile championships were held in Tullamore last weekend and West Waterford athletes were in the thick of things. The club had 5 athletes competing on the track and in the throwing events and all finished off their season with either a medal or a personal best performance. Three competed on Saturday Eabha Hickey, Doireann Hickey and Saoirse Quinn and two on Sunday Noah Commins and David Conroy Fahey.
Personal Best for Eabha as she breaks 12mins for the first time
First in action was Eabha Hickey in the girls under 16 2000m walk. This was a hotly contested affair between the top four athletes. Eabha started at a conservative pace as she eased into the race over the first two laps. She then quickened her pace and joined the leading group. With 500m to go she pushed on to take the lead with the other three on her heels. Down the back straight Eabha was overtaken by the other three but she pushed on to the finish to get under 12mins for the first time and knocking over 20secs off her previous best.
Silver and New PB for Doireann Hickey
Next up in the girls under 17 3000m was Doireann Hickey. There is a great rivalry between Doireann and Sinead Maher of Sligo. Sinead beat Doireann in the Schools All Ireland. Doireann was ahead of Sinead in the Tailteann Games so it was game on again on Saturday. In the early laps both girls stayed in the main bunch but as the race progressed they pulled away from the group with Sinead leading first and the Doireann taking over. They were neck and neck as they headed into the last lap matching each others stride on the back straight. As they turned into the home straight Sinead pulled slightly ahead as Doireann bent over with a stomach cramp but she continued over the last 100m to cross the line in2nd place in a new personal best time of 15.53.98 breaking 16mins for the first time.
Silver for Saoirse Quinn in under 17 Discus
This time last year Saoirse competed in her first All Ireland and it was evident on Saturday the huge progress she has made in the year. Last year Saoirse finished in 5th place throwing just over 21m. This year Saoire is throwing close to the 30m mark and she challenged last year’s winner Kya Mothiran all the way to the final throw. A completely windless day unusual in Ireland even in the summer meant that personal best were going to be hard to come by. Kya retained her title with a throw 28.87 with Saoirse 2nd in 28.16 a throw that was almost 5mts ahead of those who beat her to the medals last year and an improvement of over 7mts from last year.
First All Ireland Medal and PB for Noah Commins
In his first season in athletics Noah Commins has made huge strides. In only his second race over 1500m he finished 2nd in Munster and qualified for his first All Ireland Club Championships. There is always a big step up in standard from County to Munster and from Munster to All Ireland and so it was in the under 14 boys 1500m on Sunday. The race was led out at a very fast pace by Darragh Naughton of Letterkenny and the pace didn’t ease off as a group of 5 opened a small gap on the rest of the field with Noah leading the second group in 6th place. Over the next two laps Noah worked hard to close the gap and he was up with the lead group in 6th place as they got the bell. Going down the back straight Noah moved into 5th and then 4th and on the final run to the line he overtook the long time leader Daragh Naughton to cross the line in 3rd place. Noah also smashed his personal best time taking 10secs off to finish in 4.32.67
New Personal Best for David Conroy Fahey
Another newcomer to athletics who has made huge progress this season is David Conroy Fahey and he rounded off his season with a huge personal best throw in first All Ireland Club Championships. It was only at Easter that David first picked up a Discus and from his first competition in May he has improved with every event. He finished 2nd in the Munsters with a throw of 32.29 to qualify for the All Ireland. After a nervous start a throw of 32m settled him and he put everything into his final two throws to finish in 5th place with a throw of 34.71 adding another 2.5m to his personal best. This event was the stand out throwing event of the competition with some fantastic discus throwing throughout the event.
Well done to all our athletes and their coaches you have made fantastic progress this season.
Training to Finish on Wed Night July 13th
Our athletes have been working hard since we started back in training last March and it’s now time for athletes and coaches to take a break and gear up for the cross country season. We will be back in action at the end of August.
International Selection for Doireann Hickey
In the final event of her season Doireann Hickey will compete in the Schools International at the Mary Peters Track in Belfast next weekend. Doireann will be a member of the Irish Schools Team and will compete against the best walkers from England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales. Everyone in the club wishes Doireann the best of luck in this event.
