The National U20 & U23 Indoor Championships took place in Athlone on Saturday 20th with a high standard of competition across all events. Carraig na bhFear AC fielded a young Junior squad, but all athletes rose to the challenge superbly delivering top class performances. Lucy Lynch was first in action with yet another PB of 58.67, not making the final with an 8th place overall from the 4 heats but an impressive result nevertheless as Lucy has 2 more years as a Junior. Orla Coffey was next in action in the U23 400m competition running a solid 1:00.94 to finish in 5th place in a straight final. Ruaidhri Boyle had it all to do to qualify for the final of the U20 400m with a stacked field across 6 heats. Ruaidhri paced his heat brilliantly to come through in 2nd place, taking a massive one and a half seconds off his PB to finish in 50.27. The 400m final was almost 5 hours later but certainly no signs of lethargy with a blistering pace set from the gun. Ruaidhri finished in 6th place overall, his time of 50.71 again well inside his previous PB and the season looks promising as Ruaidhri will build towards the Juvenile National Indoor Finals in April. Our final competitor in action was Aoife Martin in the U20 Women’s 3k walk. Still just 15 years of age Aoife is already very experienced in top-level competition and is a formidable competitor who always gets the best from herself. A sizeable field of 15 starters was soon fragmented by a fast start from a group led by the eventual winner Savanagh O’ Callaghan from Tuam AC, however Aoife dug deep to stay in touch and a 5th place finish in a PB time of 15:41:87 was an impressive result at this high level. Congratulations to Aoife and all the Carraig na bhFear athletes who performed so well on the day, hard work over the winter months with their coaches clearly paying dividends.
Other News: A welcome trend in the new year has been a marked increase in the number of members competing both in parkruns and local races, a beneficial and enjoyable addition to the clubs’ training schedule. In Saturdays’ Glen River parkrun Caoimhe Webb-Browne ran her 3rd consecutive PB in 28.51, great progress from Caoimhe. In Tramore Valley, Cliona Hurley was
consistent as ever clocking 25:09! The BHAA IFF 5k race took place in Little Island on Sunday morning at the new start time of 10am, very blustery conditions meant training was cancelled but a quick adjustment brought a record number of members to the start line. Aidan Maher was in the mix
again from the start and finished in an excellent 10th place in a PB of 16.12. Great running also by Joseph Daly (18:03), Willie Walsh (18:43 (5 th in category), Jack Ahern (20:21), Katie Walsh (20:28 PB!), Siobhan Walsh (21:41), Cliona Lynch (23:42), Megan Murphy (25:34), Lauren Murphy (27:32), Sinead O’Brien (28:05), Aisling O’Brien (28:18) and Sonya Walsh (31:16), quite the crew!
David and Faye O’Riordan ran their 3rd IMRA race in as many weeks, making the trip to Glengarra Woods in Tipperary for the 7.3k race. Faye was first female home in a fast time of 34:31, Faye is making great progress in trail running being equally proficient at climbing and technical descents, congratulations to Faye! Dad David did his best to keep up and 37:15 also a very good time (category results pending).
Look Ahead: The AAI games will take place in Abbotstown next Saturday 27 th . Best of luck to the Carraig na bhFear AC athletes who will compete, Ciaran Nugent will open his season in the 400m and Timmy Hawkins will make his Senior debut in the 3000m.
Report by Richard Hawkins.
Featured Image: Carraig AC's Aoife Martin in action at the National U23 & U20 Indoor Championships. Photo by Jo Martin.