A windy and rainy Tullamore was the venue last weekend as Craughwell AC Athletes travelled to Tullamore to take on the elite of the country in the first weekend of the National Juvenile Track and Field Championships.  Craughwell had one of its best weekends ever winning an incredible 10 national medals – 3 Gold, 5 Silver and 2 Bronze, and a host of athletes claiming PBs and delivering performances to be immensely proud of. (This is a quick first report – check back as we will be adding some more detail later!!)

A sensational weekend of jumping saw a massive haul of 10 National medals by the club’s athletes, one of the most successful weekend’s ever for the club. The club boasted 3 National champions over the 2 days with Evan Hallinan taking the title in the U17 Boys Triple Jump with a massive leap of 12.46m. Evan followed this up a day later with a huge PB of 23cm to take the silver medal in the U17 Boys High Jump with a leap of 1.88m.

Conor Penney leaped to glory in the U14 Boys High Jump where he took the National title with a leap of 1.66m before going on to almost break the National record of 1.74m. Lauren Morgan completed the trio of National titles with an impressive series of clean jumps from 1.10m all the way up and over 1.43m to take the National title in the U14 Girls High Jump. Lauren made it a memorable weekend with silver in the U14 Girls Long Jump the following day with a best of 4.62m.

Lukas Schukat secured a fine National double with silver in the U19 Triple Jump with a best of 10.58 and bronze in the High Jump with a clearance of 1.80m.

Alisha Larkin recorded one of the best performances of the weekend going within 1cm of Sinead Treacy’s club record to take the silver medal in the U19 Girls Long Jump with an incredible leap of 5.43m.

Sean Hoade jumped an outstanding distance of 5.22m to take the silver medal in the U14 Boys Long Jump while Darragh Kelly leaped an impressive 1.60m to secure the bronze medal in the U16 Boys High Jump.

There were other fine performances in the jumps which almost made the podium with Erin Kelly placing 5th in the U17 Girls Triple Jump with a best of 9.19m, Evan Quinn and Andrew Power 5th and 6th in the U17 Boys Triple Jump with bests of 10.65m and 10.06m, Emma O’Donovan 6th in the U14 Girls High Jump with a clearance of 1.30m, Alan Hallinan 6th in the U12 Boys Long Jump with a best of 4.13m, Dean McNally 7th in the U14 Boys Long Jump with a best of 4.47m, Keelan Moorhead 8th in the U14 Boys High Jump with a clearance of 1.35m, Ella Farrelly 10th in the U15 Girls Long Jump with a best of 4.74m and  Oisin O’Donovan 13th in the U12 Boys Long Jump with a best of 3.61m.

Though the jumps stole the show for Craughwell on this weekend, there were some fine performances as well in the other events. 

The standards in Irish distance running have never been higher – most events saw times well under the national record.  Oisin Davis took a brave strategy in the u19 men’s 800m, moving through 400m in 55 seconds in the Silver medal position, however it was windy and the lactate hit hard from 700m and he did well to hold it together to finish 7th with a 1.59.60 pb.  Ross McGuinness ran an excellent personal best of 9:16.98 to finish 9th in a stacked 3000m that featured among others European U20 Champion and future superstar Nick Griggs.  Mathys Bocquet ran the u16 3000m and finished 10th in 9.53.

In the Javelin, u14 Dean McNally was unlucky to finish 4th with a fine 35.82.  Kiera Meernagh was 7th in Javelin and 8th in Shot.

In the Sprints – Sean Hoade made a stacked final of the 200m and finished 7th with 26.70.  Donnacha Lawless (u14 80m) and Ella Farrelly (u15 100m) were 6th in their heats with fine times of 10.84 and 13.70.  Holly Shaughnessy was 7th in the 2000m walk in 12:20 in really tough conditions on Friday night.

Weekend 1 Result Round-up!

GOLD (3)

u17 Triple Jump 1. Evan Hallinan 12.46

u14 HJ 1. Conor Penney 1.66

u13 HJ 1. Lauren Morgan 1.43

SILVER (5)

u19 LJ 2. Alisha Larkin 5.43

u18 TJ 2. Lukas Schukat 10.58

u17 HJ 2. Evan Hallinan 1.88

u14 LJ 2. Sean Hoade 5.22

u13 Long Jump 2. Lauren Morgan 4.62

BRONZE (2)

u18 HJ 3. Lukas Schukat 1.80

u15 HJ 3. Darragh Kelly 1.60

FULL RESULTS

u19 Long Jump 2. Alisha Larkin 5.43

u15 Long Jump 10th Ella Farrelly 4.73

u14 Long Jump 2. Sean Hoade 5.22, 7. Dean McNally 4.47, u13 Long Jump, 2. Lauren Morgan 4.62

u12 Long Jump 6. Alan Hallinan 4.13, 13. Oisin O’Donovan 3.61

u18 Long Jump 3. Lukas Schukat 1.80

u17 Long Jump 2. Evan Hallinan 1.88

u15 Long Jump 3rd Darragh Kelly 1.60

u14 Long Jump 1. Conor Penney 1.66 8. Keelan Moorhead 1.35

u14 Long Jump 6. Emma O’Donovan 1.30

u13 Long Jump 1. Lauren Morgan 1.43

u18 TJ 2. Lukas Schukat 10.58

u17 TJ 1. Evan Hallinan 12.46 5. Evan Quinn 10.65 6. Andrew Power 10.06

u17 TJ 5. Erin Kelly 9.19

u16 2000m Walk 7. Holly Shaughnessy 12:20.51

u14 80m  6. Donnacha Lawless 10.84

u15 100m 6. Ella Farrelly Heat 13.70

u14 200m 7. Sean Hoade 26.70

u14 Javelin 4. Dean McNally 35.82

u14 Javelin 7. Kiera Mernagh 20.22

u14 Shot 8. Kiera Mernagh 8.97

u19 800m 7. Oisin Davis 1:59.60

u18 3000m 9. Ross McGuinness 9:16.98

u16 3000m 10. Mathys Bocquet 9:53.54