Updated 1st June

On Saturday 29th May, some of the Club’s younger athletes got the chance to show their skills at the Leinster T&F Championships for under 9 to 12 years. Only the under 12 athletes competed as individuals, while the younger boys and girls competed in “pairs”. There were so many youngsters in the pairs competitions that results were slow to be compiled and as a result not all results were known when going home, so they had to wait a few days to know how they got on.

Pairs Competition
Shauna Leydon and Nicola Groenewald both jumped the same distance in the u/9 long jump and their combined jumps won them gold. Of interest is that their jumps were better than the corresponding boy long jumpers, so we have two great young talents here. In the 60m, Nicola won her race while Shauna was only narrowly beaten into second in her race but their combined times won them gold, so a great double victory for the girls.

Conor McHugh and John Whitelaw paired up for the 600m u/11 where Conor won his race in great style with a late surge to record the fastest time of the two heats, while John ran extremely well too and finished strongly in 7th, to place them 5th overall. They also took part in the very competitive 60m where they both ran very well and placed 6th overall. No medals, but they were still very pleased to have competed in their first Leinster T&F Championships.

Under 12 Championships
In the 600m u/12, Meabh McNulty took the race out at a very fast pace and was only caught and passed in the closing 150m but held on for a well deserved silver medal. In the u/12 shot putt, it was silver too for Niamh Fogarty with a tremendous series of throws for a newcomer to the event, clearly benefiting from the expert coaching from Richard, her father, and no doubt plenty of help and advice from older sister Ciara. Later in the day, Niamh added to her medal haul with a bronze in the u/12 ball throw. Patrick Leydon competed in the u/12 long jump but had an off day and finished out of the medals, though still jumped reasonably well and will benefit from the experience.