Last Saturday at the Celtic Games international in Antrim, Cathriona Farrell jumped to an outdoor personal best of 1.70m to claim her first international title in the high jump.

Having jumped an indoor personal best of 1.72m early in January, Cathriona cut back a little in her training to make time for Junior Cert study. With the exams out of the way, the summer has been a busy few months for her with competition in schools track & field, club track & field and community games.

The previous weekend, Cathriona travelled to Wales with the Irish schools team to contest the annual International Schools T&F competition against England, Scotland and Wales. Having to endure a marathon 13 hour bus journey from Birmingham to Cardiff due to widespread flooding, arriving in the middle of the night and getting only a few hours sleep prior to competition, Cathriona put in a great performance to take 4th place in the high jump with a jump of 1.60m. 

This weekend, Cathriona was back to her best when leaping a massive 1.70m on her first attempt to claim the gold medal for Ireland in the U16 girls high jump at the Celtic Games. Her series of jumps was excellent with first time clearances of all heights except for 1 knocked bar at a height in the 1.50s. The Celtic Games is an annual competition between Scotland, Wales, Ulster and the rest of Ireland. This is Cathriona's 2nd year in action in this particular event, having finished 2nd last year with a jump of 1.64m.

Further international duty beckons next weekend for Cathriona as part of an Irish Representative Team which competes in the English T&F Championships in Sheffield.