by Richard Hawkins
This week it was the turn of our U12-U14 year olds to make the trip to Nenagh for the Munster Indoor track & field championships. The competition was intense again as can be expected at this level but once again Carraig Na BhFear AC athletes were in the medals! Thirty-two athletes took to the start line for the qualifying round of the girls’ U14 hurdles race. Amelia O’Donovan came through the heats and semi-finals well in control with winning times of 10.23s and 10.27s. Obviously a canny competitor, Amelia had kept her powder dry for the final racing considerably faster to clock 9.94s to win the bronze medal, just .01s off 2nd place! Travis De Souza was one of eighteen athletes who patiently waited to complete their series of five jumps in the U14 long jump competition, well worth the wait though as Travis had a best jump of 4.35m in the 3rd round to win the bronze medal. Well done to Travis who also made it through to the semi-final of a very competitive 60m sprints competition. There was a super performance also from Laura Moore in the Junior women’s 3k race which was held on the day also. Laura came through to take the silver medal by the smallest of margins from Lios Tuathail AC’s Cara Leahy in the bronze medal position, great determination from Laura. Our racewalkers were in top form competing over the 1500m distance with very impressive times. Robyn Maher (7:35.53) and Anna Mullins (7.39.60) were convincing winners of the gold and silver medals in the U17 girl’s race. Aoife Martin won gold in the U18 race in a time of 7:27.15. Best of luck to the three girls as they compete in the National Junior championships in Athlone on Sunday 9th March.
Another bumper crowd of 444 runners turned out for the BJHAA 5k in MTU on Sunday morning. A challenging course with a finish on the MTU track. Timmy Hawkins had his first BHAA podium finish in 3rd place in a time of 16:24. Timmy and Bandon AC’s Naoise O’ Flaitheartigh were neck in neck for the whole race, Naoise coming from behind to pip Timmy on the line with the same finishing time. Congratulations Timmy! Conor Kelly running 19:14 was part of the University Hospital team who finished in 3rd place overall. Cliona Lynch (23.00) and Megan Murphy (24:41) have been putting in the miles recently, really nice running om a tricky course!
Look Ahead: The National Schools Cross-Country Championships take place in Galway Racecourse on Saturday 9th March. Best of luck to qualifiers Emma Johnson, Hannah Coffey, Allie Philips, Faye O’Riordan and Aidan Maher who will compete. Also to our athletes who will compete on Sunday in the National Indoor U20 & U23 Championships.