AAI National Juvenile Indoors 2022 (19th/20th March)
Race walkers to the fore at All-Ireland Indoors
Cancelled in 2020 and 2021 due to the Covid pandemic, the last AAI National Juvenile Indoors was way back in 2019 but it made a very welcome return to Athlone after a three year absence on Saturday 19th and and Sunday 20th March. Mullingar had seven athletes entered but with Jamie Wallace and Caoimhe Kilmurray on International duty in Wales on Saturday 27th March, they naturally did not compete in Athlone and saved their efforts for Wales. That left us with five athletes to watch for.
Things got off to a great start on Saturday morning with the race walks where young Daniel Glennon competed in his first All-Ireland final when he took to the start line of the u/14 boys 1,000m race walk. Completely unfazed by the occasion, Daniel put in a solid performance to finish third and was delighted to win his first All-Ireland medal. His older brother, John Glennon competed in the u/16 boys 1,500m race walk and also put in a solid performance in this very technical event, always under the scrutiny of the vigilant judges, to finish third and win his first All-Ireland medal too. The Glennon family is legendary in race walking circles, and it’s great to see the younger siblings coming through. On to the sprints, where Kyle Faherty powered from the blocks in his heat of the 60m u/16 but was very unlucky to miss a place in the final by the narrowest of margins.
Kyle was up again first thing on Sunday morning and despite a terrific run from the favoured lane 6 in his heat of the 200m u/16, he finished third and narrowly missed a place in the final, but knows he gave it his best effort and can ask no more than that. Still very new to 800m indoor running, Grace Byrne gave an excellent account in the final of the 800m u/17. The pace was fast from the gun and Grace kept in touch for three of the four laps, but an extra injection of pace at the bell saw her drop back but she continued to work hard and though she finished out of the medal places she ran very close to her personal best for the distance, so has to be happy with that. We finished the day with Aaron Wallace in the 60m hurdles u/13 and with a terrific race in the heat qualified for the final where he ran even quicker and even though he finished out of the medals, he was delighted to be competing in his first All-Ireland final and is looking forward to doing it all again in the outdoor season ahead.
