It All Began in 2002 and what a Good Year It Was
2002 was the first year that saw West Waterford juvenile club in action. It was created by an amalgamation of Cappoquin/Ballinameela A.C., Dungarvan A.C., and Ring Old Parish A.C. Some of the highlights of the year included
Shane Power (Stradbally) won the clubs first All Ireland Title with a win in the under 13 boys high jump
Edel Morrissey (Kilmacthomas) became the clubs first international when she was selected for the Celtic International
David McCarthy won the clubs first All Ireland Cross Country title in the under 16 boys
West Waterford under 13 girls team of Shona Curran, Lorraine McCarthy, Michelle McCarthy, Emer Scanlon, Niamh O’Riordan and Julia Bueste won the clubs first team title winning the girls under 13 Club Team Title.
Ferdia O’hAodha finished 2nd in the All Ireland Cross Country under 14
Jason Nagle under 9 and Mark Shalloe under 13 both won individual Munster Cross Country titles.
Training began in April and we started with a league which helped the athletes and officials from the three clubs to gel together. It also attracted many new athletes and parents into the club and promoted a very positive spirit among our athletes. We were still finding our feet by the time the county championships took place but over 70 athletes competed. Our more established athletes won many county titles and our newer athletes were also among the medal winners.
This was followed by the Munster Championships where West Waterford athletes won 22 medals.
To encourage our new members and provide them with competition we held a successful sport in Cappoquin and a triangular meet with Youghal AC and Clonmel AC over three nights in the three club venues.
At the All Ireland Track and Field Championships in Tullamore individual medals were won by Mark Shalloe, Shane Power, Ciara Scanlon, James Leddingham, Edel Morrissey and Ellie Power
Girls under 13 Relay Lorraine McCarty, Eimear Scanlon,Mide Duff,Julie Bueste and Niamh O’Riordan
Girls under 19 Relay Caroline Walsh, Ellie Walsh,Edel Morrissey, Tracey Shalloe and Claire O’Sullivan.
Jason, Mark and David win Individual Munster Titles
After a six week break from training we faced into our first cross country season. First up were the county championships where our athletes won 11 county titles Kate Veale under 9, Lisa Houlihan under 10, Lorainne Mc Carthy and Mark Shalloe under 13 Shona Curran under 14, David Mc Carthy under 15and 16, Ann Marie Jordan under 17 and 18 and Garry Nugent under 18 and 19
The club hosted the Munster Championships in the Friary under 9, 11, 13,15, 17 and 19 and what a wonderful day it was as we had three individual winners,
Jason Nagle under 9, Mark Shalloe under 13 and David McCarthy under 15. Over the course of the two days of cross country running our athletes won a total of 50 Munster medals.
At the All Ireland Championships David McCarthy won the under 15 boys title and there were individual medals for Tom Curran under 11, Shona Curran under 13 and 14, Mark Shalloe under 13and Ferdia O’hAodha under 15 and to add to a great day our under 13 girls team that finished 2nd in Munster went one better and won the All Ireland title and rounded off a very successful first year for the club.
