Irish Schools Championships 31st May 2014
Sun 1 June 2014--admin
About 30 of your young athletes travelled down to Tullamore at the weekend to represent their schools in the Irish Schools Finals having qualified to compete by claiming Medals in both their district and Ulster Schools competitions. The large crowd were dazzled by both the weather and the performances.
One of our youngest athletes Ellie got us off to a flying start by winning gold in the Junior Girls Pole Vault before some of us had even left the hotel. Her PB clearance at 2.50m would have placed her in the medals in the Senior girls event. OliviaS also vaulted well in the same event for 7th place.
AnnaM and Rachael picked up a 5th place each in HJ and Shot respectively with KateG taking another 5th in the 1500m while Eve competed well in her first Irish schools LJ.
OliviaN then ran an amazing race in the U16 mile were she matched the best of the field stride for stride to finish 3rd, less than ¾ seconds behind the winner. A great result for any athlete but given that Olivia was 2 years younger than the rest of the field it shows what a fantastic middle distance racer we have in this young lady!
A good number of our Intermediate girls had made these finals and they showed their worth with some excellent results. Phoebe took Gold in the HJ despite having another year at this age group. Megan tackled the 100m/200m double and took Silver in the shorter event before also finishing 5th in the longer, a wobble on the bend putting paid to her chances of medalling in both.
KateF, another athlete still eligible for this age group next year, ran an electronically timed PB in the sprint hurdles for 5th place in a race that saw 2 athletes dip under 12 seconds.
Zoe took 4th place in the 800m with Maddie 8th in the 3000m while Jess picked up two 4ths in the horizontal jumps missing medals by only 1cm in the TJ and 2cms in the LJ and Sarah placed 6th in the Javelin.
Our senior girls all competed in the jumps with Jane taking 7th in the LJ, Anna 5th in the HJ before Hannah hop, stepped and jumped to Silver in the TJ.
The junior boys had a great day also with Jake and Simon lifting silver medals in the 800m and PV respectively with Bradley running close to his PB in the 200m.
The Intermediate boys had great success in the jumps where Robbie took gold in the HJ and Mark lifted the gold in the TJ. BenF managed the second longest LJ of his event but ended up with the bronze on count back. The fact that any of his “No Jumps” would have won the competition, while frustrating, should encourage him that those big jumps are there. Just have to keep out of the plasticine! He was joined by who MattJ is another of our athletes who will still be eligible for this age group next year.
He did manage to put that to the side to place 4th in the 100m Hurdles despite a slight back injury. JoshJ took 5th place in the Hammer and TomB steeple chased to 8th.
Ciaran ran a great PB for silver in the 400m Hurdles with a result that will boost his UK ranking to 7th.
The senior boys had Karl running in both the 100m and 200m where the field included lads who are already internationals. He managed very creditable 4th and 5th places. Gareth also ran in the 200m.
JonnyW tackled the 1500m finishing 8th. JonnyH competed in the TJ finishing 4th ahead of Scott before he Long Jumped to a new PB of 6.45m for the bronze medal!
4 Gold medals and Irish Schools Champions crowned.
5 Silver medals and 3 Bronze medals!
Well done to each and every one of you. And to all the coaches who taught you and all the parents who get you to training and competitions.
Just a special mention to Jim Alexander and David Rosenberg who have worked with our Pole Vaulters. Jim had an excellent weekend between Irish Schools Champions and his adult Pole Vaulter Zoe Brown setting a new NI record of 4.32m in Wales.