Sinead Treacy who raced to a club record 56.96 to win bronze in the National U23 400m 
and Ella Farrelly who raced to the National title in the U13 Girls 60m Hurdles in a blistering 9.98

Another weekend of National athletics action saw athletes compete in the National U20/23s Championships on Saturday in Tullamore and the National U13-19s on Sunday again in Tullamore.

Sinead Treacy had an outstanding race in the final of the U23 Women’s 400m to take the bronze medal in a club record time of 56.96 and later raced to a time of 25.40 to take 4th place in the 200m final. Jack Miskella recorded yet another sub-2 performance with 1.57.90 in the final of the U23 Men’s 800m to place 7th with Ben Garrard in close attendance when placing 8th in 2.02.33. Laura Cunningham took 6thplace in the U20 Women’s triple jump with a best of 10.14m and later placed 11th in the long jump with a best of 4.79m. Aoife Kelly continued her great improvement in the hammer with a throw of 21.29m to take 6th place in the U20 Women’s event. Alisha Larkin raced to 13.58 to place 5th in the heats of the U20 Women’s 100m and later leaped 4.74m to take 12th place in the long jump while Arlene Earls placed 6th in the heats of the U20 Women’s 400m in 63.61.

Jack Miskella, Laura Cunningham and Ben Garrard at tne National U20/23 Track & Field Championships

Meanwhile a day later in the same venue, Ella Farrelly powered through the heats of the U13 Girls 60m hurdles with a 10.08s time to win her heat and an hour later ran a blistering final to take the National title in an exceptional 9.98s. It completes a fantastic track and field year for the young athlete who won the National Indoor long jump title, added bronze in the National outdoor long jump and now added a National hurdles title to her achievements.

National U13 Girls 60m Hurdles Champion Ella Farrelly leaping for joy from the podium

Aoife Kelly took 5th place in the U17 triple jump with a best of 8.78 and threw the 3kg hammer out to an excellent 24.57m to take 8th place. In the high jump, Lukas Schukat was in fantastic form with a string of first-time clearances up to and including 1.70m before exiting at 1.75m – his 1.70m good enough to take 5th place overall. In the U15 high jump Siofra Davis, Jade Moorhead and Leonore Church all leaped 1.45m with Siofra and Jade placing 5th on countback and Leonore 8th – all 3 unlucky not to feature in the medals where 1.50m took the bronze. Saoirse Pierce jumped well to take 7th place with 1.45 in the U16 Girls event while Issy Fitzgerald leaped to a new PB when clearing the same height of 1.45m in the U14 Girls high jump after some very consistent jumps over the earlier heights.

Jade Moorhead, Siofra Davis and Leonore Church who placed joint 5th and 8th
in the U15 Girls High Jump at tne National Championships in Tullamore

The 800s races always pose a challenge when they comprise heats and finals on the same day, with very tactical heats to try to qualify for the final with the minimum of effort. Having won a brilliant bronze at the National indoor finals in 2:22.45 earlier in the year, Fauve Aylmer was very unlucky not to make the outdoor final with a blanket finish in heat 1 leaving the top 4 separated by 1 metre. Fauve’s time of 2:28.09 placed her 4th and with only the top 3 automatically proceeding to the final, heat 2 had the advantage of knowing what was needed timewise to make the final and so it was with 5 from the second heat going through to the final and Fauve losing out. A similar fate befell Sean Cotter in the heats of the U17 Boys 800m with his time of 2:03.68 taking 4th place in heat 1 and he just missed out on making the final. Oisin Davis ran a strong race to record 2.07.71 in heat 2 of the U17 800m while an intensely tough U18 3000m steeplechase final saw Kyle Moorhead well placed in the early laps but the longer distance took its toll on Kyle and he drifted back out of the leading group to place in a respectable 7th place in a time of 11.34.79.

Oisin Davis and Sean Cotter at tne National U17 Track & Field Championships in Tullamore