The county outdoor under 9 to under 19 track and field was held in Templemore on Sat 14th and Sun 15th May. With nearly 500 competitors over the 2 days big line outs and multiple heats were the order of the day, conditions were ideal on both days.
Day one was the under 9 to under 12 competition and first up was Fionn Aird who placed 4th in the 60m with a time of 9.48 secs and Seamus Meegan who placed 8th with a time of 9.97 secs. Seamus also competed in the long jump and placed 11th with a jump of 2.6m while Fionn would go on to win the boys u11 600m in convincing style in a time of 1 min 55 secs.
In the boys under12 60m we had 5 competitors with Dara O Loughlin 4th in 10.15 secs in Heat 3, Bartosz Hoc who only recently joined the club 5th 10.50secs in Heat 1, Jack Kelly 6th 10.48 secs in Heat 2 and Benjamin Cleary 7th 10.65 secs in Heat 2. Bartosz also placed 17th in the Long Jump.
In the girls under10 60m we had Mia Hickey who placed 5th in Heat 3 in a time of 11.48 secs. Mia also placed 14th in the Long Jump.
In the girls under 11 60m we had Emma Dalton who progressed to the final to place 9th in a time of 10.25 secs and Nora O Mahoney who placed 8th in 11.48 secs in Heat 2 and Aoife Hennessy who placed 5th in Heat 3 in 10.77 secs. Aoife later went on to place 2nd in the 600m in a time of 2 mins 5 secs.
In the boys under 12 600m Dara O Loughlin placed 6th and Jack Kelly 8th in 2 mins 3 secs and 2 mins 6 secs respectively. In the final event of the day 1 for Clonmel athletes the under 11 girls Long Jump Aoife Hennessy placed 2nd with a jump of 3.38m and Emma Dalton and Nora O Mahoney placed 15th and 16th. Well done to all our young athletes and to the parents and coaches.
Day 2 of the County Outdoor Track & Field Championship for the under 13 to under 19 took place in Templemore on Sunday 15th. Straight from the start Clonmel athletes were to the fore, with Adam Prout under 13 retaining both his 80m sprint in a time of 11.36 secs more than a full second ahead of the second placed athlete and his Long jump title with a jump of 4.52m.
In the boys u14 Harry Weymouth took the silver medal in the 80m with a time of 11.61 secs and also won bronze in the 200m in a time of 29.14 secs only 0.01s away from silver.
In the boys under 17 to under 19 100m Darragh Walsh took the gold in a time of 12.48 secs and Ruairi Costin took the bronze in his first competition in a time of 13.13 secs. Darragh also took the 400m county title with a time of 54.19 secs and Ruairi placed 3rd in the Long Jump with a distance of 5.09m. Next up we had Cara Ryan under 13 and amazingly Cara won Gold in all her 4 events County champion in 80m, 60m Hurdles, Long Jump and High Jump. Caroline Smith also under 13 competed brilliantly in the 80m 4th, 60mHurdles 4th and 4th in the shot put.
In the girls under 14 age group Lucy O Mahoney and Julianne Kearney had a great race to place 5th and 2nd in the respective heats of the 80m. Julianne went on the place 7th in the final. Lucy also placed 13th in the long jump with a distance of 3.14m and 10th in the 200m final. In girls under14 800m we had 2 competitors Hannah Murray and Lily Casey in what was one of the most exciting battles of the day Hannah took the bronze just edging out her club mate by 0.03s. In fact, only 0.21s separated 2nd from 4th in this race. Lily also placed 12th in the 200m. Hannah later went on to place a brilliant 2nd in the 1500m. In the under 14 race walking Niamh Clarke was again crowned county champion with a time of 12 mins 34 secs for the 2km distance as was Ivy Rhatigan in the under15 race walking in a time of 12 mins 27 secs.
In the boys nderu17 to under 19 200m Jack Boland took top honours in a time of 24.58 secs and Tadhg Quinn who is in this age group for 2 more years placed 5th in a time of 25.93 secs. Jack also won his age group Long Jump in a distance of 5.55m. In the boys under 17 to under 19 1500m Cian Flaherty ran a strong race against top class competitors to place 3rd in a time of 4 mins 49 secs. Meabh Meegan had a great run to win Gold in the girls under 16 1500m in a time of 6 mins.
In the girls under 17 to under 19 1500m it was Clonmel 1,2,3 & 4th with Muireann Duffy leading the way in a very fast time of 4 mins 49 secs. Her clubmates also performed brilliantly with Laura Cooney 2nd 5 mins 11 secs, Ruby Carroll 3rd 5 mins 15 secs and Eimear Heafey 4th 5 mins 46 secs. We only had 1 relay team compete and that was the under 14 girls and they were narrowly pipped into 4th place.
Well done to all and again many thanks to coaches, parents and team managers. It wasn’t our biggest number of entries for a county championship but what a return. Clonmel juveniles returned home this weekend with 15 County Championship titles.
