AAI Junior and u/23 T&F 2019 (6th July)

Early morning mist gave way to generally dry and quite warm and humid conditions in Tullamore on Saturday 6th July for the AAI Junior and u/23 T&F Championships. First up were the race walkers where Jennifer Fidgeon raced to third place in the Junior Women 3,000m race walk, which is an excellent result considering that she is eligible for another two years. Matthew Glennon is eligible for another three years but was still too good for the opposition in the Junior Men 5,000m race walk and pushed ahead at 4k to open a lead and finished in a new personal best of 23:08.55 and win the National junior title.

Jamie Battle and Cormac Dalton contested the 3,000m where the junior men and u/23 men ran together, which made for a great race and great competition. Jamie and Cormac favour the longer 5,000m distance but worked hard and Jamie finished sixth overall, fifth junior, with Cormac right on his heels after a terrific final lap, seventh place overall but second u/23 to take the silver medal.

Colin Smith was ranked fifth on time going into the u/23 Men 800m and that’s how it finished for him, fifth place, but that was after a good race where he gave himself every opportunity to take a medal in a close fought race that came down to a sprint finish on the home straight.

We ended the day with the u/23 Women 3,000m where Claire Fagan put in a good shift, keeping in touch with the leading group throughout and only began to lose touch with the leaders on the final lap, coming home just out of the medal places in fourth but this was a good performance from Claire who has been focussed in training on longer distances in advance of the European u/23 T&F in Sweden in a week’s time where she will compete in the 10,000m.