The County Indoor Track and Field Championships under 9 to Junior were held in Nenagh on Saturday the 12th of March and Clonmel had nearly 50 athletes compete out of nearly 500 entrants. As this was the first county championship held in nearly 2 years some of our 11 years had their maiden race. We had 9-year-olds right up to Junior athletes put on the club colours.
Long Jumps
In the boys under 10 we Daragh Heaney and Conan Mangan competed. Conan jumped really well to place 14th and Daragh won the competition with his final jump of 3.25m and was crowned County Champion and our medal haul began. In the girls under 10 long jump, we again had 2 athletes, both just placed outside the medals with Judie O’Donnell 4th with 3.12m and Faye Hallinan 5th with 3.10m. In the boys u11 age group we had great jumps from Fionn Aird 12th, Seamus Meegan 20th and Tommy Callinan 21st. In the girls under 11 Emma Fitzgerald jumped well to place 14th while Aoife Hennessey and Siofra Mangan took the silver and bronze medals for 3.34m and 3.24m respectively. In the boys under 12 Jack Kelly jumped well to place 13th. In the girls under 12 all 3 athletes jumped well with Ellie O Donnell, Saoirse Heaney and Ava Walsh placing 12th, 19th & 21st respectively. In the boys under 13 Adam Prout retained his county champion title with a winning jump of 4.12m. His club mates also jumped well with Rory Hennessey 7th Devin Ryan 8th and Harry Walsh 11th. In the girls under 13 Cara Ryan retained her county champion title with a winning jump of 4.49m. Moya O’Donnell also jumped well to place 17th. In the girls under 14 we had Lucy O Mahoney who jumped a great 3.43m to place 6th. In the boys under 16 Killian Whelan took the gold medal with a winning jump of 4.98m. Finally, we had 3 Junior men compete and Clonmel took the Gold, Silver and Bronze with Jack Boland winning in 5.38m Tadhg Quinn 2nd in 4.54m and Darragh Walsh 3rd in 4.32m.
High Jumps
Our sole competitor in the High jump was the current National and provincial Champion Cara Ryan and she added the County title to her long list of accolades with a jump of 1.35m (retired).
Shot Put
In the girls under 13 Cara Ryan took the bronze medal with a throw of 7.60m while Caroline Smith was 4th with a throw of 6.32m.
Race Walking
In the girls under 14 1km race Niamh Clark took the gold medal in a 10 sec PB time of 5 mins 52 secs.
Hurdles
In the girls under 13 Clonmel took Gold for Cara Ryan and Bronze for Caroline Smith in an exciting race where only 0.2 second separated the top 3.
60m Dash
In the boys under 10 Daragh Heaney was just outside the medals placing 4th in the gold final missing out on a podium place by the smallest of margins 0.02s. In the girls under 11 Saoifra Mangan placed 5th with a brilliant time of 10.29 secs in the gold final. In the boys under 12 heats Dara O Loughlin (heat3) and Jack Kelly (heat 2) ran great to both place 6th. In the under 12 girls Saoirse Heaney ran well to place 8th in heat 1 as did Ellie O Donnell who placed 6th in heat 3 and Ava Walsh who placed 6th in heat 5. Holly McNamara progressed through the heats to make a very competitive final and finished 7th. In the boys under 13 we had the reigning Munster Indoor Champion competing thankfully he’s from Clonmel and Adam Prout did indeed take the County title as well in a time of 8.72 secs. 4 more under 13 boys ran in this event with Ben Fitzgerald placing 7th in heat 1, Sam Donovan winning this heat and placing 4th in the final, Jack Whyte 4th in heat 2 and Rory Hennessey 3rd in heat 2 and took the bronze in the final. Four out of the 8th finalist in the under 13 boys sprint were from Clonmel. In the under 13 girls Caroline Smith was just outside the medals in a time of 9.11 secs with the bronze time of 9.09 secs. Cara Ryan put in a great race to take the silver medal in a time of 8.99 secs. In the girls under 14 Lucy O Mahoney ran really well to place 6th in heat 1 with a time of 9.50 secs. In the girls under 15 Emer Brennan ran brilliantly to place 2nd in a time of 8.97 secs. In the boys under 16 Killian Whelan ran well to place 5th in the final in a time of 8.41 secs. In the Junior men Clonmel were 1st and 2nd with Jack Boland taking the title in 7.78 secs and Daragh Walsh second in 8.41 secs. In the Junior men 200m we had a rerun with Jack again taking top spot and Daragh placing 2nd. Tadhg Quinn placed just outside the medal in 4th. In the Junior men’s 400m Daragh would get his revenge taking the title in a time of 56.78 secs while Jack took the bronze in 59.35 secs and Tadhg Quinn was 4th in 1.01.
Middle Distance
In the girls under 10 300m we had 3 competitors Noor Skarzynski ran great to finish in 4th in heat 1. Judie O Donnell and Faye Hallinan ran well to place 2nd and 3rd respectively in heat 2. All 3 girls were just outside the medal positions. In the boys under 11 Seamus Meegan ran well to place 19th, Tommy Callanan ran well to place 13th and Fionn Aird despite stiff competition from Dundrum took the gold medal and County title. In the girls under 11 Nora O’ Mahoney ran well to place 13th and Aoife Hennessey put in a brilliant display of front running to lead from start to finish and take the gold medal and County title. In the boys under 12 600m we had strong performances from Daragh O Loughlin 9th, Joe O Brien 10th and Jack Kelly 11th. In the under 12 girls Ellie O Donnell ran well to place 13th. In the boys under 13 we had 3 strong performances from Devin Ryan 4th, Rory Hennessey 5th and Harry Walsh 8th. In the girls under 13 Caroline Smith just missed out on a medal placing 4th with a great time of 2 mins 3 secs for the distance. Clair Moore also put in a strong run to finish 9th. In the boys under 14 Darragh Boland took the bronze medal in a fast time of 2 mins 39 secs for 800m. In the girls under 14 Alice Meegan ran well to place 9th and Eadaoin Duffy missed out on a medal with a spirited run to finish 4th. In the girls under 15 Emer Brennan won the gold medal by a whopping 16 secs with a time of 2 mins 44 secs for 800m. In the girls under 16 Meabh Meegan ran a great race to take the silver medal. In the Junior men Darragh Walsh took the silver medal in a time of 2.27 for 800m.
Relays 4 x 100m and 4 x 200m
In the relays our medals winners were the under 13 Boys team Gold, the under 13 girls team Gold, under 14 girls team Silver, Junior men team Gold. I have to give special mention to the girls under 15 relay team for the way in which they won the gold medal. When the whistle went Niamh Clark lost her runner on the first bend and continued on to hand the baton over in 4th place, Alice Meegan took up the race and chased down the athlete in front to hand the baton over in 3rd place, then Eadaoin Duffy chased down the 2nd place athlete to put us in Silver. When Emer Brennan took the baton for the final leg everyone thought that Templemore had an unassailable lead but what can only be called sheer guts and determination Emer chased down her competitor and passed her in the final straight to take the Gold and cheers of celebration from the Clonmel AC camp. Overall Clonmel Juvenile athletes enjoyed their best day at a County Championship in many years. A final special mention to our two leading medal winners Cara Ryan and Darragh Walsh who both won 6 County medals each. As with all these events they wouldn’t happen without the continued support of parents, coaches and officials and a big thank you from all the Club. It is for days like this that we keep doing it.