Good Day for our Throwers at Munster Championships
The Munster Track and Field Championships under 14-19 were held in Cork on Saturday and Sunday last with twelve athletes from West Waterford competing over the two days. It was a good day for our athletes with seven on the podium and most recording personal best times and distances on the track and in the field.
First in action were the hammer throwers. David Conroy Fahey had a good throw to take third in the under 16 boys and Saoirse Quinn was 4th in the under 17 girls. David was next up in the Discus and he has put a huge effort into his training and is showing remarkable progress. Last Saturday he smashed through the 30m mark adding 7mts to his personal best and finishing second with a throw of 32m87. Saoirse Quinn was also on form in the girls under 17 discus where she threw close to her best with two throws over 28m to win with a throw of 28.82.
Newcomers to the club Jonathan and Calum Tutty were competing for the club for the first time. On Sat Calum threw the javelin 26m87 to finish 3rd in the under 15 boys while Jonathan was 4th in the under 15 discus with a throw of 22. 08m just 26cms off the bronze medal. Both were personal best performance for the boys. On Sunday Jonathan proved he could be as good as his brother with another personal best performance in the shot of 11m38 to clinch the bronze medal by just two cms.
In the under 19 shot Paul Mullarkey was throwing with the big guys as they threw the 6kg shot. Paul had five throws over 10m with a best of 10.32 good enough for 4th place.
Rory Donnolly was competing at this level for the first time and he recorded personal best distance in both the shot and discus. In a very competitive under 14 discus where the winner broke the championship record Rory broke 20m for the first time throwing 21m60 to take 5th place. In the shot putt he made the cut to get into the last eight and he also threw over 7mts for the first time.
Another Winning Performance from Doireann Hickey
The Hickey sister Doireann and Eabha were in action in the race walking events. First up was Eabha in the under 16 2000m. This was Eabha‘s first time over this distance as the distance in the schools is shorter. She walked steadily throughout the race to come home in 12.07.50 for second place.
Next up was Doireann in the under 17 walk over 3000m. Here Doireann renewed her friendly rivalry with Aoife Tuthill of Bandon AC. They pushed each other along in the early stages of the race before Doireann began to pull away and come home a clear winner in 16.09.94 a new personal best and 24 secs better than her time over the distance last year.
First Munster Track Medal for Noah Commins
Another newcomer to the club Noah Commins was in action in the 1500m under 14. This was only his second run over the distance. He ran a very good tactical race staying in the bunch for the first 1200m and then taking the lead on the back straight. He was well clear as they entered the final straight but he began to relax on the final 100m and he never saw the challenge coming and was just pipped on the line to finish in second place with a very good time of 4.42.41. Noah will learn from this experience and he won’t be caught out again.
Fia De Paor was also in action in the girls under 15 1500m. Fia has only been back training in the last few weeks. She got out well and tried to stay with the pace but the lack of track work over the last few months showed in the middle part of a very fast race. Fia finished 9th but will be happy to have run well under the 5.30 mark. Naoise Mac Murchadha was in action in the under 16 boys 1500m and decided to set a fast initial pace, however when the pressure came on he could not sustain it and drifted back to 6th place where he finished in 4.40.97.
Sarah O’Riordan was our only competitor in both the long jump and hurdles. She ran well in both hurdles races and especially over the 250m long hurdles. In the long jump she recently went over 4m for the first time and improved on that last Saturday recording a personal best of 4m10 and just missing the cut by a few cms.
Well done to all our athletes who competed last weekend and their coaches who have been working with them all summer. All those who finished in the top 4 will now go forward to the All Ireland on July 2nd,9th and 10th.
Presentation of Awards for the Club Championships
Over the past few weeks we have run a very successful club championship with over 70 young athletes running jumping and throwing. The events concluded on Wed last so on Wed this week June 22nd we will have the presentation of prizes.
See you all on Wed night.
All Ireland and Munster Presentations
Last Friday evening athletes parent and coaches gathered upstairs in the tennis club for the presentation of All Ireland and Munster Cross Country medals. It was a pleasant and informal gathering where 18 athletes were presented with team and county medals won during the last cross country season. We were unable to present the medals at the time of the events because of Covid restrictions. Thanks to Rosemarie and Michelle for organising the food.
Tailteann Gameson Friday next
Best of luck to club members Doireann Hickey (Meanscoil san Nioclas) and Saoirse Quinn (St Augustine’s College) who will compete in the 300m racewalk and the discus as part of the Munster Schools team in the Tailteann Games which is a schools inter provincial championships.
