Munster Combined Event Championships
This weekend the Munster combined event championships were held in Templemore. The club was delighted to have 6 athletes competing in these championships in what is a tough day of competition, with athletes competing in four or five disciplines. On Saturday, five girls took on the challenge and battled it out over sprints, jumps, throws and middle distance. In the girls u11 competition, the club were represented by three athletes- Annie Ely, Lily Murphy and Meadhbh Hall. They began their competition with the long jump, with best jumps of 2.79m (127pts), 3.46m (177pts) and 3.57m (186pts) respectively. They followed this up with a tough 60m into a big headwind, all three girls ran in the second heat where their times of Lily (9.74s), Meadhbh (10.10s) and Annie (10.93s) were again converted into points (214, 186, 127) and added to their growing totals. The third of four events for this age group was the shot putt - a new competition for this group of girls. Meadhbh and Lily came away from the throw with 127 points a piece (5.09m and 5.08m respectively) and Annie earned herself a further 95 points, with a throw of 4.16m. With great scoring throughout the competition it all came down to the final event - the 600m. A hard pace was set from the out, and taking the bell, Lily sat in second with Meadhbh close behind her and Annie chasing them down. Coming into the home stretch, Meadhbh pushed on to finish in a time of 2.03.42 (235 points), Lily was next of the Moyne athletes across the line in 2.15.70 (170 points) with Annie crossing in 2.20.98 (144 points). An anxious wait followed for the girls as points were totalled, and final placings were decided. Meadhbh secured the silver medal with a total of 734 points across the four events, Lily finished 6th with 688 points and Annie was 11th with 493 points. Excellent results in a highly competitive field.
Meanwhile, Faye Murphy was in action in the u13 girls pentathlon. With five events to complete, Fay started her day with an impressive third in her heat of the 60m hurdles with a time of 11.93s (233 points). Next up for her was the high jump, where her clearance of 1.21m added 229 points to her total. In the long jump, Faye added a further 170 points with a jump of 3.37m in the long jump, and 176 points with a shot put of 6.46m. Faye ran in the second of two heats in the 600m, finishing with the third fastest time of the competition, 1.59.15, to earn 262 points. This excellent final event meant that she finished with a total of 1070 points in fifth place.
In the u14 girls, Isabelle Murphy was representing the club. She started with the 75m hurdles, where an excellent time of 14.97 earned 399 points. A brilliant throw in the shot put of 7.88m (2nd furthest in the competition) added a further 392 points to the total. The u14 girls moved on to the long jump, where Isabelle gained a further 204 points with a jump of 3.52m. In the high jump, Isabelle cleared 1.24m, securing 350 points. At u14, the distance increases to 800m and Isabelle’s strong run of 2.56.54 was enough to add 398 points. In total, Isabelle had 1743 points, and finished 7th overall.
On Sunday, our lone male competitor - Gerard Delaney represented the club in the boys u14 pentathlon. Running in the second heat, Gerard began his day with the 75m hurdles, where his time of 14.95s started him off with 399 points.The boys moved on to the high jump- a favourite for Gerard - where a strong performance clearing 1.36m netted 290 points. In the shot put competition, Gerard came away with 353 points for his throw of 7.78m, and a jump of 3.92m added a further 193 points to the total. Competing over the longer 800m distance, Gerard finished in 3.09.11 to add 19 points and bring his total to 1254 points for a 7th place finish.
Well done to all our athletes in the Munster combined events championships, we look forward to seeing these athletes continue their competition at provincial level in the upcoming Munster track and field championships.
Munster Masters and Senior T&F Championships Templemore.
The Munster Masters and Senior Championships were held in Templemore over last weekend. Ber Spillane taking silver in the 100m 13.73secs. and 200m 28.91secs. Ber rounded off what was a very good weekend with a PB in the 400m 1.03.62 to win gold. Sharon Cantwell finished 5th in the 1500m, 4min 56.27secs.
Community Games National Finals, Cross Country.
Muireann Casey and Caoimhe Slevin representing Thurles took part in the National Community Games cross country finals in Cairns, Gormanstown, Co. Meath on Sunday last finishing sixth team overall. Well Done.
Featured Image: Meadhbh Hall, Moyne AC on the podium after finishing 2nd. in the Munster U/11 Combined Events in Templemore on Sunday last. Courtesy of Martin Flynn.