by Perri Williams
Our younger athletes were showing the signs of the bright talent that is to come as they demonstrate speed, power and agility at the National Juvenile Championships last weekend. Showcasing their excellence once more, exciting competitions endured with records tumbling across the board. Sixteen national records tumbled at the hands of these young greats. One of the most impressive coming from the European u18 Hammer champion Thomas Williams (Shercock). There were a number of double golds won, the most impressive coming from Charlie O’Neill (800m and 3000m), Matt David Duro (Long and Triple Jumps), Dearbhla Allen (Steeplechase and 3000m) and Lavr Malejevs (Discus and Shot). While the middle distance events may have grasped more attention, there were some spectacular and equally impressive moments during the walks, throws, jumps, hurdles and sprints.
Middle Distance
Five of the national records came from the middle-distance events, where Freya Renton, Dearbhla Allen, Abbi Smith, Ruby Devereaux and Isabel Gaffney proudly hold the new space in the record books.
Freya Renton (Westport) left no stone unturned in the u16 3000m. It’s hard not to be impressed by this talented athlete, who excels in a range of distance from 800m to Cross Country. As gracious in defeat as she is in victory, she certainly avenged her defeat at the All-Ireland schools. Moving ahead from the start, the Westport AC woman ran the race solo. She knocked two seconds off the record set by Emily Bolton last year, to record the new mark of 9:44.00. Freya was joined on the podium by her sister Holly who managed to dip under the 10 minute mark for the first time.
In the girls u19 Dearbhla Allen (St Peters) was in superb form. The Louth athlete who had won the 3000m on Saturday, recorded a double, winning the steeplechase on Sunday, in a time of 10.34.96, knocking over half a minute off the record. This was her third time inside the European u20 B standard. Significantly, behind her Caoimhe Flannery (Skibbereen) met her Euro u20 obligation as her 10:39.06 was her second time within the B standard. Flannery was also inside the existing record of 11.14 set in 2024 by Elenore Foot.
It is a shame that the decision was made to have timed heats in the 3000m races. Without them the boys u17 could have been a real cracker of a race. Running in heat 1, Charlie O’Niell (Donore) clinched overall victory from a solo run, in a time of 8:49.24. The winner of heat 2 David Wajrak had to settle for 8:58.72 and second place overall.
Abbi Smith (Shercock) is the new u18 3000m record holder. The Cavan woman, however, did not have an easy passage to that gold medal record breaking performance. Pushed all the way to the final 200m, by Kayla Devine, Ella Grace Osborne and Emma Stwart, it was only a late surge in the final 200m that saw her take the lead and remain there until she crossed the line.
Ruby Devereaux (Youghal) was an impressive winner of the boys u16 3000m. Devereaux shaved seven seconds off the 2024 record set by Charlie O’Neill. Arms in the air as he performed a victory salute crossing the line, he heaved a sigh of relief.
There may have been no records set in the boys u17 800m but it still turned out to be one of the most exciting one of the two-day competitions. Three athletes Charlie O’Neill, Daniel Downey and Issac Vickers had their eye on gold. With all three in contention for the entire race it came down to who could get to the line first over the final 100m. Downey fell behind rounding the bend and in an exciting challenge almost came between Vickers and O’Neill as they battled what they thought was down to a dual. With both Vickers and O’Neill falling over the line, the gold was ultimately for the photo finish to decide. O’Neill took the gold with Vickers second and Downey third.
The Renton twins were back in action again on Sunday over 800m. Madison Welby (City of Lisburn) had the fastest time of those racing with her sensational 2.09 recorded at the Schools All-Ireland. Who would have thought that less than a month later, the Lisburn AC athlete was relegated to fourth place. Isabel Gafney (West Waterford) demonstrated that talent that she displayed as an 11- and 12-year-old. Returning to the track she produced a powerful final 200m to move from 5th to 1st taking her first All-Ireland 800m title with a new championship record. Freya Renton finished second with Tara-Rose Smith (Mid Sutton) getting the better of Welby over the final 10m.
Darragh Whelan (Limerick) did try to rewrite the record books in the boys u15 800m. Whelan was on target for the first 600m but lost some vital seconds on the final bend. His time of 2.00.09 is not to be balked at, and he was over four seconds ahead of the field. Iris McCartan (Clane) shocked her opponents as she moved up a gear over the final 300m to clinch a win with a margin of two seconds in the u14 800m.
Racewalking
The racewalking events had to endure a long wait on Saturday evening with the programme running over 90 minutes late. The boys u18 5000m finished at 7.30pm, with just a handful of loyal supporters staying on. It was worth it for the winner Evan Walsh (St Josephs) who took over a half a minute off his time and dipped under 24min for the first time ever. It was a double for the Walsh family as his sister Amy won the girls u16. Cuisle O’Callaghan (Tuam) brought technical work to a sweat level as she raced flawlessly to victory in the girls u15 2000m.
Hurdles
Three new national records were set in the hurdles at the hands of Conor Penney, Abigail Farrell and Eddie Raicevic.
Conor Penney moved with ease through the flight of hurdles in the boys u18 race, smashing the eight-year-old record to post a new time of 14.10 for the 110m hurdles. His signature smile glowing with yet another superb performance. It wasn’t so much the record-breaking performance that impressed with Penney. It was the ease at which he did it. Going smoothly over the hurdles, technique low and efficient. Barely out of breath, he jumped for joy at the news of his time.
Directly following Connor Penney’s record-breaking performance, Abigail Farrell (Donore) was a very excited winner of the girls u19, as she set a new record of 14.15 in the 100m hurdles.
Eddie Raicevic (Finisk Valley) removed two people from the record books with one fell swoop. The Waterford athlete lowered the u17 hurdles to 13.27 as the previous bests of Cameron McCracken and Stuart Tobin were jointly erased.
Throws
Two new records are attributed to the throwing events. Thomas Williams in the Hammer and Lavr Malejevs in the discus.
One has almost come to expect a new record from Thomas Williams (Shercock) when he enters the throwing arena. Now throwing in the 70m plus category, the Cavan man never ceases to impress his audience. The European u18 number one has been busy getting up to speed with competitions as an early season injury set him back a few months. Last Saturdays record breaking performance of 71.61m puts the Shercock athlete right back where he wants to be. The 2024 European u18 champion already has the qualifying distance for the European Youth Olympics this summer.
The u14 boys discus mark has been rewritten by Lavr Malejevs (Dooneen) with his only valid throw of 50.38m. He also won the shot putt with just two valid attempts. Each well clear of the second placed athlete. Going between two throwing events can be difficult in the same day.
Jumps
Four athletes established new marks in the jumps. Fionn Naughton (Pole Vault), Matt David Duro in the Long Jump, Milana Sharhayeu along with Darragh Fahy in the Triple Jump.
Fionn Naughton soared to 4.10m displacing clubmate Conor Callinan from his six-year sojourn at the top of the books. Matt David Duro (Kilmore AC) has been a revelation this year. On Saturday he won the long jump with 6.09m. He came back Sunday to not only break the Triple Jump record once, but six times, once for each jump he took. His longest effort was 13.07m but taking wind speeds into consideration, it was his 5th round attempt of 12.66m that was recorded in the record books. Ryan Onho (Leevale) recorded 6.91m on both his first and second round jumps in the Long Jump. After a foul on the third jump, he then made the decision to pass on the fifth round. The odds of recording two jumps each just a tantalizing 2cm shy of the record are slim, however that is exactly what the Leevale athlete did. The 2006 record of 6.93 lives to see another year. The girls u16 Triple Jump saw another record tumble. Leinster record holder Milana Sharhayeu (Ratoath) broke the 2022 national record set by Eve Dunphy (St Senans) with all six of her jumps. Finally settling on a distance of 11:45m. This is the second national track and field record Sharhayeu has set. In 2024 she won and broke the u15 Triple Jump. Darragh Fahy (Loughrea) broke the existing 2017 record of 13.84 held by fellow Loughrea athlete Brendan Lynch. For Fahy it took his final jump of 14.02m to finally get the record into his own name.
Sprints
Two sprinting records tumbled at the hands af Dubem Amah and Joseph Magbagbeola,
The boys u18 100m record holders have just been joined by a third member. Dubem Amah was first across the line with 10.89 matching the existing times of Christopher Russell (2007) and West Coast AC’s Lemar Lucciano (2024). Angela Cielecka (West Coast AC) retained her 100m sprint title from last year. The Galway sprinter is just one tenth of a second off the EYOF 100m standard. Joseph Magbagbeola (Ratoath) had a dual with clubmate Theo De Bonis in the u16 100m. It was Magbagbeola who crossed the line first with a record-breaking time of 11.09. It is worth mentioning that the record that fell was that of Michael Farrelly (Portmarnock) who was a member of the Irish 4x100m record breaking team last weekend in Slovenia.
Ciaran Brosnan (An Riocht) made the trip home from New Jersey to compete in the boys u18 400m. The US based athlete retained the title which he won last year with a time of 49.33.
Kathlyn Woods (Dundalk St Gerards) took home a full set of medals from last weekend’s championship. Woods took gold in the shot putt u13. She followed this up with a silver in the 60m and a bronze in the Javelin on Sunday. Competing with Dundalk St Gerards, the home club of Kate O’Connor, with such versatility can Woods emulate the multi-event success that has led Kate O’Connor to the top of her game.
These championships are not over yet, with the third day of the u13-19s and national relays scheduled for July 12th and 13th.