AAI Juvenile u/12 to u/19 T&F 2018 – days 1 & 2 (14th/15th July)
Club’s young athletes excel at All-Ireland T&F
The first two days of the AAI Juvenile u/12 to u/19 T&F took place in a Tullamore on Saturday 14th and Sunday 15th July and Mullingar athletes were well to the fore, as expected.
First into action on Saturday morning in very warm and sunny conditions was Shauna Leydon who put together a consistent set of jumps in the girls u/17 long jump, but finished out of the medals on this occasion. Moving to the girls u/17 discus, Shauna again showed good consistency and finished in fifth place, not far off the bronze medal place. In the boys u/14 shot putt, Shane Ormsby threw his best effort in the last round but had to settle for a place out of the medals in fourth place, just missing a medal by a small margin.
On the track, Conor Liston and Jamie Wallace attacked right from the gun in the boys 600m u/12 and followed the early leader through the bell leaving the rest of the field in their wake. Tracking the leader down the back straight, as Jamie moved on to Conor’s shoulder with 200m to go that seemed to be the signal for Conor to wind up the effort and the Mullingar pair closed on the leader, coming into the home straight effectively locked together. Conor had more in reserve though and took the lead with 80m to go and with one last effort, Jamie hauled himself into second place just before the line, giving Mullingar a terrific 1-2 and the best possible start to the day.
Aimee Wallace showed great racing savvy in the girls 600m u/13 and running her own race, slowly closed back on the early leading group of four and with 200m to go, effortlessly moved up a gear and around the final bend went into second place. Brilliantly holding her form on the finish straight, she crossed the line in second place to win the silver medal, like her younger brother, Jamie, in the previous race.
On to the boys 600m u/13 where Philip McCartan put in a great effort and with 200m to go, was in the medal places. Around the final bend though, he was passed and dropped into fourth place and unfortunately, despite every effort, he just couldn’t get back on terms and crossed the line in fourth place, but deserves every credit for effort.
Last event with a Mullingar interest was the girls 800m u/18 where Aoife Darby went with the leading group of four but at the bell drifted to the back of the group and though she battled well, she just couldn’t get back on terms and finished just out of the medals in fourth place.
It was still quite warm on Sunday morning, but in contrast to Saturday, it was very wet but that didn’t bother our race walkers who blazed the medal trail with great success. Andrew Glennon made short work of the u/14 boys 2,000m walk and won with ease, comfortably clear of second place. Jennifer Fidgeon was the picture of consistency in the u/17 girls 3,000m walk to take second place and the silver medal. Matthew Glennon was just too good for the opposition in the u/16 boys 3,000m walk and took gold. Fresh from her exploits at the European u/18 T&F in Hungary, Sarah Glennon lost no time stamping her mark on the u/18 girls 3,000m walk and was a comfortable winner by a long way to make three out of three for the Glennon siblings. Another Euro T&F star, Oisin Lane was also in another class and romped to victory in the u/17 boys 3,000m walk in a new Championship Best Performance of 13:35.74. With four gold and one silver All-Ireland medals won, is it any wonder Mullingar is the envy of others when it comes to race walking?
By the third round of the girls u/17 triple jump, Shauna Leydon was comfortably in second place, which was her cue to throw caution to the wind and attack the board. In her final two jumps, she set new PBs, the longest being 10.68m set with her final jump to make sure of the silver medal and round off her season on the medal podium.
The rain cleared in time for the 3,000m races and Colin Smith was full of running in the early stages of the boys 3,000m u/16 but as the pace ramped up in the closing laps, he had to drop back and despite a strong finish, he finished out of the medal in sixth place. Lorcan Mullen also started alongside Colin but as a recent foot injury flared up again, he wisely stopped to avoid further aggravating it. For Aoife Darby in the girls 3,000m u/18, it just wasn’t her day, and despite a strong showing in the opening laps, she had to drop off the pace and though she rallied in the end, she finished out of the medals in sixth place.
Earlier in the day in the worst of the rain, Kyle Faherty and Criostoir Ormsby qualified comfortably from their heats of the boys 60m u/12, as did Awa Fane in her heat of the girls 100m u/18. After the 3,000m races, attention turned to the final races of the day, the sprint finals. In the boys 60m u/12 Kyle and Criostoir got away really well and in an extremely close finish that took the photo finish camera to decide the winner, Kyle placed second, missing gold by just one hundredth of a second, to win his first individual All-Ireland sprint medal. Meanwhile Criostoir was also running a blinder, considerably faster than in the heats, to finish an excellent sixth place in a tight finish. Though she got away well in the girls 100m u/18 final, Awa was always chasing the early leader and while she was closing in very fast over the final ten metres, she simply ran out of track and finished second but was still very pleased with her race.
After two long days of competition, Mullingar athletes had won 5 gold medals and 6 silver medals, in addition to recording three 4th place finishes, a PB and a CBP, making this a memorable Championship. It’s not over just yet though, as the 1,500m and 200m events on the final day gives an opportunity to add to the medal tally. Apart from the few in action on the final day or selected to run in the Schools or Celtic International T&F, for most, the season is now over. They now need to take a break for several weeks and come back refreshed towards the end of August to rebuild again for the autumn cross country season or the indoors in the New Year.
