Leinster Children’s Games and u/12 and u/13 T&F 2022 (5th June)
Leinster medals prove very hard to win
Over 300 children gathered in an unseasonably cool overcast and at times drizzly Tullamore on Sunday 5th Junefor the Leinster Children’s Games and u/12 and u/13 T&F. The younger under 9, 10 and 11 year olds competed as a “pair”, meaning their times in a race or throws in the turbo javelin or shot putt or jumps in the long jump were added together to give a team total or score, while the older under 12 and under 13 year olds competed as individuals. The level of competition was fierce and medals were very hard to win, in fact we won only two medals, but all our athletes competed to the very best of their ability and they thoroughly enjoyed the day.
On the track, proceedings got underway with the 600m races. Orla O’Connell ran well in her heat of the u/12 girls 600m but didn’t advance to the final to join Lily Walsh who was second in her heat. In a very fast final later in the day, Lily ran extremely well and was very unlucky to finish just out of the medal places. Beibhinn O’Reilly and Aobh Smith contested the u/13 girls 600m heats, where Aobh just missed a place in the final but Beibhinn qualified from her heat and in the later final ran a fantastic race to finish third and give Mullingar its first medal of the day. On to the u/12 boys 600m heats where Cillian Galvin won his heat, just ahead of Antonio Bertolo to give us two in the final, but unfortunately Aonghus O’Reilly didn’t advance from his heat despite a good run. The later final was run at a furious pace from the gun, with Cillian always in contention and Antonio keeping close contact too. It came down to a sprint finish and Cillian prevailed to win the gold medal, Mullingar’s second medal of the day, with Antonio finishing strong but out of the medals. We finished with the u/11 girls 600m where Chloe Bell, Clodagh Keane, Liadan Gavin and Amelie Kelly ran their hearts out and were unlucky to win no medals for their efforts, Chloe and Clodagh coming so close in fourth place, missing the bronze by less than half a second.
Dropping down to 500m, Lucy O’Connor, Lauryn Smith and Kate Horohoe ran very well in the u/9 girls 300m but there were no medals won, though Lucy and Lauren came very close in fourth place, missing the bronze by just under half a second. Penny Bohan and Katie Bohan contested the longer u/10 girls 500m, finishing well up in their races but out of the medal places. We had four in the u/10 boys 500m but though Conor Gavin, Cillian Gavin, David Canning and Fintan Harte ran very well, they didn’t win any medals, but Conor and Cillian came close in fourth place.
Over at the field events, Katie Bohan and Penny Bohan were in action in the u/10 girls long jump where they jumped well but finished out of the medal places. Antonino Bertolo competed in the u/12 boys shot putt and u/12 boys high jump, enjoying the competition but not finishing in the medal place. No medals either for Daniel Horohoe in the u/13 boys shot putt or Aoibhe Martyn in the u/12 girls shot putt, but both competed well. We had four in the u/10 boys turbo javelin, Cillian Martyn, Ruairi Horohoe, Josh McDonnell and Tom O’Connell but though they all threw well and enjoyed the competition, they too finished out of the medals. We came close in the u/11 boys turbo javelin where Donnacha Doyle and Luke Somers threw really well and were unlucky to finish just out of the medals in fifth place.
Back on the track for the sprints, the numbers taking part were absolutely huge, giving ten heats in some events, so the competition was fierce. Lucy O’Connor, Lauryn Smith, Rose Harte and Kate Horohoe (u/9 girls 60m), Josh McDonnell, Fintan Harte, Tom O’Connell and David Canning (u/10 boys 60m), Aoibhe Martyn and Orla O’Connell (u/12 girls 60m), Daniel Horohoe (u/13 boys 80m) all competed strongly but such was the level of competition, they didn’t finish in the medals. Liadan Gavin, Amelie Kelly, Chloe Bell and Clodagh Keane ran in the u/11 girls 60m, all running very well and Chloe and Clodagh came close to winning medals, finishing in fifth place. Aonghus O’Reilly and Adam O’Connor (u/12 boys 60m) tried very hard, but only Adam managed to advance to the semi-final but his involvement ended there. Getting out of the heats proved extremely difficult, such was the standard, but Chloe Duggan and Aobh Smith managed it in the u/13 girls 80m, advancing to the semi-finals though a place in the final eluded them, while Beibhinn O’Reilly didn’t qualify from her 80m heat, though her legs had to be tired as she had run two 600m races in the morning to win a Leinster medal and that was bound to have taken its toll.
Whether they won medals or not, or got places in semi-finals and finals or not, all the Mullingar athletes did their very best and competed with great enthusiasm and as they moved between events, they always seemed to have happy smiles on their faces and we can ask no more than that.
