Westmeath Juvenile Indoors 2018 (2nd Feb)

Young Harriers shine in Athlone

Mullingar had a very big squad of over 70 young athletes in action at the Westmeath Juvenile Indoors on Friday evening 2nd February held in the magnificent AIT indoor stadium, which was the first time many of the younger 8, 9 and 10 years old boys and girls in particular had the opportunity to compete there.

Thanks to great organisation by AIT AC, nearly three hundred boys and girls from AIT AC, East Westmeath AC, North Westmeath AC and Mullingar Harriers, aged u/9 to u/16, competed in a range of events. Even though every event was competitive, the atmosphere was still relatively relaxed compared to a Leinster indoors and our youngest athletes in particular made the most of the chance to compete in the state-of-the-art facility, giving them a taste of what’s to come in a few years when they can compete at a Leinster indoors. Everyone could compete in two events each, so there was plenty of action on the track and in the field events to keep the big crowd of parents, supporters and coaches occupied following proceedings. Mullingar athletes were regular visitors to the medal podium throughout the evening and by the end of the evening 35 of them had won medals – 11 of them more than one – a great collection of 46 medals in total.

Medal winners on the night in u/9 were Maeve Shaw (60m and 300m u/9), Jake Bell (60m and 500m u/10), Katie Kilmurray (60m and 600m u/11), Aisling Whelan (60m u/11), Sean Byrne (60m u/11), Morgan Corcoran (60m and 600m u/12), Quyen Bartley (60m u/12), Conor Liston (60m and 600m u/12), Kyle Flaherty (60m u/12), Aimee Wallace (60m and high jump u/13), Anna May Flannery (60m u/13), Alanna Costello (60m and long jump u/15), Shannon Liston (60m and shot u/15), Martin Foran (60m u/15), Katie Glennon (500m u/10), Daniel Boyle (500m u/10), Lydia McDonnell (600m u/11), Matthew Molloy (600m and long jump u/11), Ellen Daly (600m u/12), Alex Lynch (600m u/12), Charlie Foy (600m u/12), Adele Geoghegan (600m u/13), Leah Geoghegan (600m u/13), Caoimhe Kilmurray (600m u/13), Aisling Lane (800m u/14), Eva Farrell (800m u/14), Diarmuid Fagan (800m u/14), Ross Killalea (800m u/14), John Ryan (800m u/14), Meghan Bates (800m u/15), Meabh Killalea (800m u/16), Arthur Drummond (long jump u/11), Hannah Boyle (long jump and shot u/12), Caoimhe Donohue (long jump u/13), Aoife McGouran (high jump and long jump u/5) and David Burke (long jump u/13).

Others that competed with great determination, very many making finals but just finishing out of the medal places, were Cian Traynor, Cathal Kilmurray (u/9), Eileen Farrell, Emily Farrell, Katie Glennon, Liam Weblin, Daniel Boyle, Matthew Weblin (u/10), Ava Cosgrave, Síofra O’Reilly, Eoin Donohue, Luke Greene, Luke Robinson, Sean Graham, William Scahill, Niall Brady (u/11), Sophia Webb, Katie Kearns, Aideen Langtry, Aimee Lynch, Muireann Donohue, Darragh Weblin, Ryan Bell, Alex Lynch, Cillian Traynor (u/12), Grace Byrne, Ellen Foran, Lucy Donnelly, Robyn Bates, Ciara Glennon (u/13), Laura Kearns, Adam Smyth, Adam Brady, Eoin McGrath, Ben Bose, Tadhg Sheridan (u/14), Meghan Bates, Jasmine Farrell,

Many thanks to the parents for bringing the children to Athlone or they wouldn’t have been able to take part in such numbers. Thanks also to the very many who also helped on the night providing encouragement, making sure everyone got to their event in time, or volunteering as officials at the various events. We hope it gives them the confidence to step forward at future events, as they now know what’s involved and that it’s not so daunting.