At Day 1 of the Juvenile All-Ireland Indoor Championships in Athlone today, Darragh Whelan (Limerick AC) was one of seven record-breaking performances as 14-year-old smashed the u15 800m record, with a sub-2-minute performance. His 1.59.96 was almost four seconds faster than the 2009 record of 2:03.85 set by Shane Fitzsimons (Mullingar Harriers). In what was a very controlled pace, with each lap well timed to dip under the target of 2 minutes, Whelan looked at ease. Speaking with him afterwards he admitted that he felt he could go faster but for now, a sub 2 minute for 800m was a huge achievement and one he clearly was excited about.
Theo De Bonis (Ratoath) ran an impressive 200m as he surged strongly down the home straight to take the boys u16 title with a time of 22:60 from a fast-finishing Matthew Dermody (Blackrock AC). De Bonis eclipsed Jack O’Connor’s (St Michaels) 2023 championship record of 22:85 by .25 seconds. This was the second time during the day’s proceedings that the Ratoath athlete surpassed the 2023 mark. Earlier in the morning he already claimed the record as his own with a time of 22:83.
Freya Renton (Westport) was once again in top form. From the gun she took the lead, though she was never too far ahead of her old rival Madison Welby (City of Lisburn) and Tara Rose Smith (Mid Sutton). With one lap to go, Renton increased the pace and maintained her front running right to the line. While Welby may have slightly reduced the gap, it was not enough nor timely enough to defeat Renton. Renton’s time of 2:11.55 was a championship record, almost a second and a half ahead of the mark set by Faye Mannion (Ennis Track) last year.
Issac Vickers (Farranfore-Maine) may not have claimed a championship record but did manage to defeat long time rival Daniel Downey (Portlaoise). The race oozed with excitement from start to finish as Downey ran with his usual strategy of front running. Unlike other years, he did not quite manage to shake his opponent (Vickers) who proved too strong over the final 100m of the race. Vickers recorded 1:55.57 a second ahead of Downey but three second short of Cian McPhillips 1:52.67 set back in 2018. Charlie O’Neill (Donore) finished 3rd in 1:56.77. Vickers younger brother Ryan had just moments before won the boys u16 800m in a new personal best.
The girls u17 ensured yet another championship record fell, and a long standing one too. Freya Bateman (Belgooly AC) conducted a magnificent display of front running. Over the final lap her injection of pace was superb, as she eased further away from the rest of the field. Her time of 2:11.08 was almost a second faster than the time recorded by Faye Mannion (Ennis Track) in the final heat, giving the Belgooly athlete to gold. The previous record was 2:12.50 set by Elizabeth Williams (Ballymena and Antrim) 22 years ago. Like the Vickers siblings, the Bateman siblings also came home with two gold medals. The younger Bateman, Nellie won the girls u15 800m.
Joe Burke (Templemore AC) looked strong in the boy’s u18 200m heats. Coming from lane 4, he won his heat in 21.97 and was the only qualifying athlete to dip under 22 seconds. Leaving no stone unturned, he secured the outside lane for the final. Last year’s European u18 bronze medalists commanded a lead for the entire race and crossed the line in a rapid 21:64 to eclipse the 2016 record of 21:77 set by Menapians David McDonald.
The only hurdles record to fall on the day was that of the boys u18 60m Hurdles. Cameron McCracken (North Down) was on fire as his impeccable technique produced sub 8 second run, to reduce the record to 7.88 seconds. McCracken was chased all the way by High Jump supremo Connor Penney who also dipped under 8 seconds with a time of 7.91, also surpassing the old mark of 8:04.
Erin Friel (Letterkenny) is edging closer to that sub 24 second mark in the 200m u18. Having already set a new personal best in the heat, the Donegal woman further reduced her time to 24.24 in the final. This is just .15 off Rhasidat Adeleke’s 2019 mark of 24.09.
In the girls u18 Pole Vault Meabh Corkery (Middleton) set the only pole vault record of the day with another fantastic leap of 3.46 taking one centimeter off Ava Rochford’s three-year-old mark. After some shaky moments at 3:15 and 3:25, the Middleton athlete asked for the bar to be raised to 3:46. Corkery cleared the distance on her second attempt.
After a winter sojourn at the pole vault, Michael Kent (DMP) was back on the long jump runway again. The versatile Wexford athlete competed in the same event at the 2024 Europeans in Slovakia. With just two jumps (Round 1 and Round 6), his winning jump was from his final round. He will compete in the Pole Vault tomorrow.
Elsewhere Dundalk St Gerard’s Autumn Moran had an impressive win in the girls u13 hurdles where she beat Georgia Coughlan (Crookstown-Millview) with both athletes recording a sub 10 second time. Cara Ryan (Clonmel) took the u16 60m hurdles title with a strong performance. The Clonmel AC multi-eventer also finished runner-up in the shot putt.
It was a lucky day for Victor Lamph (Thomastown AC). The u17 athlete took a tumble in the heats of the 60m hurdles, got up and finished strongly, as the seventh fastest of eight qualifiers. It was a different story in the final. Throughout the entire race it was a ding dong battle between Lamph and Eddie Raicevic (Finisk Valley) with Raicevic taking the gold by the finest of margins on the line.
Day two starts at 10am on Sunday with plenty more exciting action expected.