Craughwell AC’s juvenile athletes had their finest season to date in the National Outdoor Track & Field Championships which were held over 3 weekends in the last 5 weeks.

With some terrific performances across all age groups, athletes were in the hunt for many medals with some narrowly missing out and others experiencing the glory of a National medal. To be competitive in any event at National level is a great achievement – to win a medal of any colour is outstanding.

In the relays, which always provide a huge source of excitement and tension for athletes, coaches and parents, the club had experienced some great results in previous years winning one set of medals in different years/National championships.

– U9 girls, gold in outdoor 4x50m, 2004
– U11 girls, bronze in outdoor 4x50m, 2002
– U14 girls, bronze in indoor 4x200m, 2005
– U11 boys, silver in outdoor 4x50m, 2005
– U12 boys, silver in indoor 4x100m and gold in outdoor 4x100m, 2006
– U13 boys, silver in indoor 4x100m 2007

On these and other occasions, we had some near misses for medals and never had the achievement of two teams taking medals in the same Championships. Well 2007 has surpassed this and hopefully set a new milestone for the club. Three teams claimed medals in the outdoor championships:-

– U10 girls, bronze in 4x100m in Cork in a time of 65.1
– U11 boys, silver in 4x100m in Cork in a time of 60.4
– U13 boys, gold in 4x100m in Tullamore in a time of 55.10

For the U13 boys, this was their 5th relay medal for the same group of lads – a tremendous achievement and hopefully something which the U10 girls and U11 boys can emulate. And for other teams, again we had some near misses and some fine performances from teams across many age groups:

– U9 girls, 7th in a time of 73.1
– U12 girls, 8th in a time of 60.17
– U16 girls, 10th in a time of 54.??
– U9 boys, 6th in a time of 69.6
– U10 boys, 5th in a time of 63.8
– U10 boys B team, 9th in a time of 67.2
– U12 boys, 11th in a time of 62.06
– U14 boys, 5th in a time of 54.64
– U15 boys, 4th in a time of 51.54

The teams in the National finals were

– U9 girls: Emma Gaffney, Shonagh Gilligan, Mary Dunphy, Ashling Keady
– U10 girls: Hannah Rabbitte, Caoimhe Reidy, Grainne McDaid, Tara McNally, Andrea Tobin
– U12 girls: Sarah Molloy, Ella Bryan, Ailbhe Greaney, Claire Ryder, Gabrielle Tobin
– U16 girls: Sophie Ralston, Maeve Curley, Rachel Finnegan, Ashley McDonnell
– U9 boys: Alan Callinan, Jack Lally, Liam Moran, Dylan Finn, Oisin Woodlock
– U10 boys A: Oisin Coppinger, Liam Forde, Ian Connolly, Eddie Madden
– U10 boys B: William Corcoran, Gary Clay, Matthew Molloy, Niall Broderick
– U11 boys: Niall O'Donnell, Jamie Spelman, Conor Gardiner, Aidan Conneely, Conor O'Donoghue
– U12 boys: Oisin McNally, Nicholas Sheehan, Cathal Reidy, Brian Tarpey, Conor Tarpey
– U13 boys: Peter Treacy, PJ Kelly, Brendan Gallagher, Jack Raftery, James Greaney
– U14 boys: Pádraic Tobin, David Farrell, Jack Raftery, Paul McGill, Cormac Dillon
– U15 boys: Ruairi Finnegan, Niall Rooney, Tomas Keehan, Paul McGill

A fine achievement was recorded also by U11 athlete Aidan Conneely who had the fastest 80m sprint time in the U12 event, recording a time of 11.06s and also the 3rd best long jump with a leap of 4.10m. The structure of the competition was a 2-person U12 team and in each case, Aidan’s team-mates in each event (Jamie and Niall) are also U11, making it very difficult to succeed in an older age group – but these lads can look forward with anticipation towards next year when they will still be in the U12 age group.

Besides the relays, the club had some fantastic success in the other track and field disciplines, with no less than 7 athletes taking National medals:-

– U12 girls, gold for Claire Ryder and Ella Bryan in the long jump with a combined jump of 8.04m (Claire 4.25m, Ella 3.79m).

– U15 boys, gold for Tomás Keehan in the high jump with a PB of 1.60m and bronze in the long jump with a PB of 5.29m.

– U16 girls, gold for Cathriona Farrell in the high jump with a jump of 1.64m.

– U13 boys, silver for Jack Raftery in the high jump with a leap of 1.43m.

– U14 boys, silver for Paul McGill in the shot putt with a massive throw of 12.74m.

– U16 girls, silver for Maeve Curley in the 2k walk in a time of 10.28.12.

And in addition to the above successes, the club had some hard-luck and near misses in a number of events including:-

– Linda Porter (U14) who was competing over the 1500m distance for the first time in a National final put in an incredible performance to race to 4th place in a time of 5.02.03, just one-hundredth of a second away from the bronze medal position. Linda’s time would have been good enough to take the gold or silver medal in each of the last 5 years. 

– Ashley McDonnell competing in the U15 800m, having to run 2 races within 3 hours of each other (heats and finals) for the first time, recording her 2nd and 4th fastest times ever for the distance but tiredness set in for the last 150m in the final.

– Jack Raftery was unlucky in the U13 long jump with some huge jumps that would have taken him into the medals but passed the break-line on each attempt. 

– PJ Kelly jumped 4.53m to take 6th place overall in the same event, unlucky not to have recorded a medal-winning jump on that attempt as he fell slightly backwards upon landing.

There were plenty of other fine performances in many events, including:-

U10 boys

– Liam Forde and Oisin Coppinger 7th in the 300m in a combined time of 105.7 (Liam 52.5 Oisin 53.2)
– Matthew Molloy and Eddie Madden 6th in the long jump in a combined distance of 6.44m (Matthew 3.01, Eddie 3.43)

U10 girls

– Caoimhe Reidy and Tara McNally 8th in 60m in 19.96 (Caoimhe 9.82, Tara 10.14)
– Caoimhe Reidy and Grainne McDaid 6th in 300m in 1.51.33 (Caoimhe 54.42, Grainne 56.91)
– Andrea Tobin and Tara McNally 7th in ball throw with 37.02m (Andrea 18.15, Tara 18.87)

U12 boys

– Aidan Conneely and Niall O’Donnell 7th in long jump with combined distance of 7.46m (Aidan 4.10, Niall 3.36)
– Brian Tarpey and Oisin McNally 12th in long jump with combined distance of 6.99m (Brian 3.44m, Oisin 3.55m)
– Conor Tarpey and Craig McGill 6th in shot putt with combined distance of 14.36m (Conor 8.22, Craig 6.14)
– Cathal Reidy and Nicholas Sheehan 6th in 600m with combined time of 3.49.03 (Cathal 1.57.57, Nicholas 1.51.46)
– Jamie Spelman and Aidan Conneely 8th in 80m with combined time of 23.58 (Jamie 12.52, Aidan 11.06)

U12 girls

– Sarah Molloy and Ailbhe Greaney 9th in long jump with combined distance of 6.14m (Ailbhe 3.13, Sarah 3.01)
– Claire Ryder and Ella Bryan 5th in 80m with combined time of 23.3 (Claire 11.1, Ella 12.2)

U13 boys

– Brendan Gallagher 10th in the 60m hurdles in 11.42
– Peter Treacy 11th in the long jump with 3.96m and 12th  in the 60m hurdles in 12.28
– PJ Kelly 13th in the shot putt with 8.22m

U13 girls

– Caoimhe Quill in the high jump
– Maria McNamara in the high jump

U14 boys

– Paul McGill 9th in the javelin with 25.51m and 8th in the 75m hurdles with 13.45

U14 girls

– Debi Kenny 12th in the long jump with 4.15m
– Linda Porter 7th in the 800m with 2.31.16

U15 boys

– Ruairi Finnegan 8th in the 200m in 26.53
– Tomás Keehan 9th in the 100m in 12.96

U15 girls

– Ashley McDonnell 11th in the long jump with 4.54m and 11th in the 800m with 2.30.43.

U16 girls

– Rachel Finnegan 10th in the long jump with 4.60m, 11th  in the 80m hurdles in 13.83 and 13th in the 250m hurdles in 42.42
– Sophie Ralston 13th in the 80m hurdles in 15.16

U17 boys

– Chris Casserly 15th in the 100m in 12.69