Leinster u/14-19 T&F 2021 – Day 3 (24th July)
The Leinster T&F Championships concluded on Saturday 24th July in warm sunny conditions at IT Carlow with the final day of the under 14 to under 19 T&F. In the u/15 boys 800m, a recurrence of a hip injury shortly into the race put paid to Conor Liston’s chances and he didn’t advance to the final to join Jamie Wallace who qualified comfortably from his heat to take his place in the final as a medal favourite. The final was run at a fast pace from the gun, the leader going through the bell in 61 seconds, with Jamie on his shoulder, clear of the chasing pack. Jamie made his move with 150m to go, quickly passing the leader and looking good for gold, but into the home straight the athlete that had been in third place throughout put in a terrific sprint to pass Jamie and with no time to counterattack, Jamie crossed the line in second place, but in a terrific new PB of 2:08.81.
Caoimhe Donohue attacked from the start of the u/16 girls 800m and was rewarded with a new PB of 2:31.50 to finish well up but not enough to finish in the medal places. Jessica Cunningham finished very strongly behind her, followed home by Síofra O’Halloran, both competing strongly. In the corresponding u/16 boys 800m, Pablo Lozano was determined to qualify for his first Leinster track final and led the field for most of the race, dropping back to third with 200m to go but a late rally saw him finish second in 2:18.88, a new PB, to qualify for the final. The heat of the day and the effort in qualifying took its toll though and despite a spirited performance in the final he finished out of the medal places but was still delighted to have achieved his goal of making a Leinster final.
Competing in the u/15 boys triple jump, his first time in the event, Criostoir Ormsby took a few jumps to settle in, including an unnerving three no jumps in a row, but finally got it right and in his final jump clinched the silver medal. Criostoir made it a double later in the day when he finished second in the u/15 boys 250m hurdles, again, a new event for him, but he made short work of the distance and the barriers and was delighted to win his second Leinster medal of the day.
Over all the days of the Championships, Mullingar athletes amassed a total of 20 medals – 10 gold, 7 silver and 3 bronze, which will see the maroon and white of Mullingar out in force at the All-Ireland finals in August.
