The County Juvenile u12 to u16 Track and Field Championship took place in Templemore on Sunday 13th June. To keep within Covid number restriction at outdoor venues athletes were restricted to competing in 2 events. As well as scorching weather we also had some scorching performances from Clonmel athletes having only just returned to training. The outstanding performances of the day and there were many were that of Adam Prout and Cara Ryan.
Adam retained his Long Jump u12 title with a jump of 3.79m and also took the Gold medal in the 60m dash in a time of 9.26s. In fact Clonmel did the clean sweep in the 60m dash with Sam Donovan taking Silver and Rory Hennessy taking the Bronze. So competitive was this event that it took a photo finish to separate 2nd to 4th place as only 0.1seconds divided the 3 places. Evan Ryan ran well to placed 6th in a time of 9.72 seconds. A pity that no relay events were held due to the covid restrictions as Clonmel u12 boys would have been unstoppable. Rory also competed in the 600m and placed 3rd to receive his second Bronze of the day.
In the girls u12 it was a similar story Cara Ryan retaining her long Jump title with an enormous jump of 4.37m nearly 30cm ahead of her closest rival. This distance must put Cara as the athlete to beat in the upcoming Munster Championship. Cara also took the gold medal in the 60m dash in a time of 9.01s. Her Clonmel teammate and training partner Caroline Smith put in a fantastic performance in a very high quality field to take the silver medal in a time of 9.45s.
In the u13 boys events we had Harry Weymouth who placed 3rd in the 80 Dash in a time of 11.89s and Darragh Boland who was just outside the medal positions in 4th in a time of 1.52.11 for the 600m. In the girls u13 Hannah Murray ran a very good 600m in a time of 2.20. In the boys u14 Gavin Ryan ran a very good time of 2.53 to place 5th in the 800m and Emer Brennan ran a time of 11.93s in the 80m sprint to claim the Silver medal. In the u15 boys Killian Whelan finished second in both the 200m sprint 27s and the Long Jump 4.61m. In the final age group of the day the u16’s Conor O Gorman took the gold medal in the 800m in a superb time of 2.11 and Michael Connellan who has only recently returned to the sport took 2nd place in 2.17. Cain Flaherty took the bronze medal in a time of 4.49 for the 1500m.
Our walkers were in action on the Templemore Track the previous day and both came away with podium finishes. In the u13 girls Niamh Clarke won the gold medal for the 2km walk in a time of 13.35 and second place went to Alice Meegan in a time of 14.16. In total Clonmel AC juvenile athletes took home 17 medals 5 Gold 7 Silver and 5 Bronze an impressive tally considering the numbers competing.
Clonmel AC would like to thank the athletes, coaches, Team managers and officials for making this day happen at such short notice. It was a very welcome return to competitive action following the lengthy layoff. The next competition will be the Munster Outdoor Track and Field commencing on the 3rd July in the MCU in Cork City. As there were no medal presentations on the day the athletes will receive their medals in the coming week from the County Board. Pictures to follow from the Club presentations.
Clonmel AC