All-Ireland Schools T&F 2024 (31st May / 1st June)
Regarded as one of the toughest underage T&F Championships in Ireland, the All-Ireland Schools T&F took place on Friday evening 31st May & all day Saturday 1st June, continuing an innovation begun last year to reduce an overly long programme on Saturday by holding some events on the evening before. Friday’s programme included the race walks, where three Mullingar Harriers were competing for their Colleges.
Daniel Glennon (St. Finian’s College) had qualified from a very tough Leinster and lined up for the Junior boys 1,200m walk as a medal favourite. Straight from the gun the best walkers took off at a frantic pace and within one lap the race was down to a two-man battle. Throughout the second and into the third lap Daniel stuck firmly to the leading walker as the two fought hard but with 250m to go Daniel upped the pace into a hard focused sprint and took the lead, which he then held all the way to the finish for a superb victory in the terrific time of 5:25.85. In the Intermediate boys 2,000m walk, the leader went well clear from early on but John Glennon (St. Finian’s College) stayed with the chasing group of four. Over the longer 2,000m distance, focus and perseverance along with good, safe technique means that the best prevail, and the opposition gradually fell back to leave John in second place coming into the home straight but still under pressure from third. However, he drove hard for the line and crossed it in second place in 9:09.84. The timetable then moved on to the Senior girls 3,000m walk. Aisling Lane (Mercy Ballymahon) had won all the schools’ age-groups titles over the years and was determined to complete a full set of wins. This was evident right from the start as by the end of the first lap she was already comfortably leading. Lap by lap she continued to increase her lead until she crossed the finish line to win over 300m ahead of the next finisher and happy to achieve a new personal best of 14:18.44, an excellent time for a solo effort and completing her Irish School athletics career undefeated in all racewalking competitions at all levels.
The next day, Saturday, Grace Byrne (Loreto College) contested the Senior 3,000m where she kept in close contact with the leading group for most of the race but as the pace wound up for the final laps she struggled to hold on to the group. Fighting all the way to the finish though, she finished strong in a very creditable seventh place. The Senior boys 800m went out at a furious pace, but Conor Liston (Colaiste Mhuire) held his nerve and ran his own race. Going down the back straight for the final time, Conor began to move through the field but though he worked very hard the gap to the front was too big and he crossed the line in sixth place. His time of 1:56.56 was not far off his personal best showing that he ran as best a race as he could, so he has to take some consolation from that [ML/GD].
