The National AAI games and Combined events were held in Morton Stadium in Dublin over last weekend. Katie Walsh raced her first 400m hurdles event in 3 years and showed no signs of rustiness as she won Bronze in a fast time of 1:04:77, less than a second separating the podium places in a tight finish. Congratulations to Katie! Ruaidhri Boyle placed 5th in the Men’s 400m hurdles in a time of 59:97, unfortunately heavy contact with the first hurdle had Ruaidhri on the backfoot early in the race which made it very difficult for the remainder of the race. However, with more National finals on the horizon he will have the opportunity to bounce back quickly!
Lots of races locally and Carraig Na BhFear AC were well represented. Tadhg Crowley continued his recent good form with a 13th place in the Tracton 4-mile Road race in a time of 23:06 for the hilly course, a well-organized event as can be expected on the occasion of Tracton AC’s 70th anniversary. There were excellent performances in the sold-out Skibbereen half-marathon coming from Jamie Buckley in 29th place overall running 1:34:43, Sean O’Sullivan following closely behind in 30th place in a time of 1:35:06 and Helen Roche who was 3rd in her age group in an excellent time of 1:46:34, great running from the three athletes!
IMRA: Well done to Faye O’Riordan who was 1st Female home in the IMRA 3 lakes race finishing the 9.46km race with 608m elevation in 1hr 27m! However, dad Dave has to take the headline this week for completing the Carrantouhill Mountain Race, not for the faint-hearted, Dave fulfilled his ambition to complete the 17.22kms to Irelands’ highest point at 1618m in 3h 39mins! Congratulations to Dave and Faye.
Cliona Hurley and Liam Aherne were in action on Sunday 14th in the Inaugural Cork City Triathlon in the Marina Cork with the run leg finishing in Pairc Ui Chaoimh, a great event by all accounts!
Look ahead: The National Juvenile ‘B’ Track and Field Championships and Inter-Club Relays take place in Tullamore on Saturday 20th with Day 2 of the National Juvenile Track and Field Championships also being held in Tullamore on Sunday 21st. Best of luck to all competing. The very best of luck also to Aoife Martin who will represent Ireland in Racewalking at the SIAB Schools International on Saturday in Carmarthen Wales, a well-deserved first Irish singlet for Aoife.
Report by Richard Hawkins
Featured Image: by Dermot Hever