Curtain Comes Down on Another West Waterford Primary Schools Sports
Last Thursday saw the final of three nights of exciting athletics as the curtain came down on another Western Primary Schools Sports. Early in May heats were held in Lismore, Leamybrien and Dungarvan with youngsters qualifying for the Western Finals. Because of last year’s traffic congestion the finals were divided this year with the Small Schools Final on Thurs May 21st and the Big Schools Final on May 28th. There were some nailbiting finishes in the sprints and the relays as always generated great excitement. There are lots of photos of all three nights on the West Waterford AC Facebook page and on the website. At the small school finals Ardmore National Schools won the Overall Girls Trophy, Fews National School won the Overall Boys Trophy and Seafield National School won the Nora Healy Trophy. Scoil Garbháin won both the boys and girls Overall Trophies at the big schools final. Our thanks to St Augustine’s College for the use of their facilities over the three nights, our sponsors Gilligans and to all our volunteers who turned up on all three nights to ensure the smooth running of the event.
Isabelle Gaffney Shines at 123.ie Irish Schools Track and Field Championships.
One of the standout races at the 123.ie Irish Schools Championships was the Inter Girls 800m race. Included in the line up were 5 athletes who have achieved the standard for this year’s under 18 European Championships. Among the five was Isabelle Gaffney who was representing St Augustines. It was a very tactical rather than a fast race as the opposition sized each other up. Coming to the bell Isabelle was in fifth place and caught on the inside but as the bell sounded for the last lap she extricated herself from the inside and went onto the shoulder of the leader. Pushing the pace down the back straight she took the lead with 200m to go and extended her lead all the way to the finish line to take the gold medal. Noah Commins came with a very fast final 200m to finish 6th in the senior boys 1500m in 4.01.2. Michalina Goclik was also 6th in the Inter Girls Discus with a throw just over 27 mts. Eabha Broderick finished 8th in the minor girls hurdles and Siún Cunningham finished 10th in the inter girls steeplechase in a very fast race that saw the first three athletes break the record. A special congratulation to Michael Kent Good Counsel who won both the senior boys long jump and pole vault setting new records in both events. Michael is the grandson of Mary O’Brien of Mapstown Dungarvan.
World Athletics Recognition for Irish Schools Athletics Association.
Prior to last weekend’s championships in Tullamore a special plaque was unveiled by World Athletics to recognise the contribution of Irish Schools Athletics to the development of athletics in Ireland over the last 110 years. The first Irish Schools Championships was held in 1916.
Club Championships Start on Wednesday
The next event on the calendar for our young athletes is the club championships which gets underway on Wednesday next June 3rd and will continue at training on Monday and Wednesday for the next two weeks. There will be sprints, middle distance race, jumps and throwing events for all age groups. Points will be awarded for each event over the three weeks. At the end of the championships we will have a presentation of trophies.
The juvenile committee extend their sincere sympathies to James and all the Veale family on the passing of Philomena Veale. May she Rest in Peace.
