National Juvenile T&F 2024 – Day 2 (21st July)
Day 2 of the National Juvenile T&F took place in Tullamore on Sunday 21st July. First into action was Daniel Glennon in the u/16 boys 3,000m walk where after a great battle with the long-time leader, Daniel had to settle for second place by a narrow margin. Despite arriving home from the SIAB Schools T&F International in Wales in the early hours of the morning John Glennon was still more than up to task of tackling the u/18 boys 5,000m walk, taking the victory and another National title.
The heats of the u/17 boys 100m were so competitive that each was won in a time that was better than the Championship Best Performance. Despite that, Finn Roddy put in a very good effort in his heat and despite not advancing to the final can be satisfied that he was competitive throughout.
Suffering with a head cold, Conor Walsh struggled a bit mid-race of the u/15 boys 3,000m but rallied for a good finish, though out of the medal places in a tough race. Matthew Molloy worked hard throughout a fast u/17 boys 3,000m and though he finished out of the medal places in a very creditable 8th place, he can be very satisfied with running a new PB of 9:21.25. It was great to see two Mullingar girls in the u/19 girls 3,000m. Grace Byrne and Jessica Cunningham kept in the mix but a mid-race surge saw Grace pull away with the leading group of three but Jessica continued to work hard. Grace was in second place at the bell but over a fast final lap she was passed but had enough in reserve to finish in third place in 10:13.71, a new PB by 7 seconds. Jessica has lost a bit of time recently due to shin splints but finished strongly in a very good 7th place. We finished with the u/19 boys 3,000m where Conor Sherwin and Pablo Lozano competed strongly, with Conor leading and controlling the race for much of it. A furious burn-up over the final 600m quickly split the pack and despite every effort, Conor just couldn’t get among the medals, finishing in 5th place in 8:54.33, a new PB and his first time under 10 minutes, while Pablo finished further back in a fast race [GD].
