Silver for Saoirse Quinn @123.ie All Ireland Club Championships
Medals were hard to come by at the 123.ie All Ireland Championships in Tullamore last weekend. Having qualified through their provincial championships the best and the brightest young athletes from the four corners of Ireland converged on Tullamore for two action packed days of athletics. West Waterford athletes had some very good performances on Saturday with almost all our athletes improving on their personal best performances and Saoirse Quinn securing second place in the girls under 18 discus to bring home another All Ireland silver medal. The event was won by last year’s champion Kya Mothrim from Ardee with a throw of 33m 96. Saoirse was close to her personal best with a best of 29.24 which was good enough for a silver medal and just 7cms ahead of the 3rd placed athlete Grace Gormley of Shercock.
Personal Best throws for Lily and Michalina in their First All Ireland Championship
It was an early start for Lily Burke and Michalina Goclik as they had to be in Tullamore @9am for the first Discus Competition @10am. This was the first time both girls had qualified for an All Ireland Championships. Lily got off to a good start throwing over 28m for a new personal best. This gave her the confidence she needed and five of her throws were new personal bests. She threw over 30m for the first time and had three throws over 30m with a best of 30m80 which held 3rd place until the last round when when Aoife Greehin threw 31m76 to snatch the bronze medal. Things didn’t start so well for Michalina as the nerves kicked in and her first throw was outside the sector. In the third round she threw over 23m which was just enough to qualify for the last eight and three more throws. In the fifth round she threw 25m71 which was a new personal best and moved her up to sixth place. An excellentresults for two young athletes who are only throwing a few months and only in their third competition.
Third Place Finish but no Medal for Isabelle
Our unluckiest athlete on Saturday was Isabelle Gaffney who competed in the girls under 14 800m. Isabelle ran a great race and crossed the line in 3rd place behind the winner Aisling Kelly who ran a new championship record of 2.11 and Faye Renton in second place. Isabelle ran 2.16.4 which was her second best time ever. The race was run in lanes for the first 200m and then the athletes had to cut into the inside. Faye and Isabelle were adjudged to have cut in half a metre before the line and both were disqualified which was a tough decision for 13year olds who were running in lanes for the first time.
Personal Best for Noah Commins in under 15 800m
Noah Commins continues to improve at every outing in the 800m which he started running for the first time this year. He finished 2nd in the Munster Championship to qualify for the All Ireland. On Saturday he had to run both a heat and a final in the one day. He made sure of qualifying for the final by finishing 3rd in his heat in a time of 2.11.26. Later in the afternoon he was back for the final. This was a very fast race with the winner close to breaking 2mins. Noah got stuck into the race from the start and ran strongly all the way to finish 5th in a new personal best time of 2.6.43 which was almost three seconds faster than his time in the Munsters. Noah will be back on the 23rd to run in his preferred event the 1500m.
Ava And Clodagh Compete in the 123.ie All Ireland B Championships
On Sunday Ava Kiely and Clodagh Lattimore were West Waterfords only competitors in the All Ireland B Championships with both competing in the girls under 13 shot. This was their first trip to Tullamore to compete in an All Ireland Championships. Ava took a while to settle and had her best throw of 6m39 in the 4th round. This was very close to her personal best and earned her 7th place. Clodagh was also close to the 6.50 mark in her last throw but it was adjudged a foul throw and she had to settle for 10th place with her best mark 5m98.
Well done to all our athletes who competed over the weekend and to our coaches who prepared them for their events.
Seven West Waterford Athletes to Compete on Day 2 and 3 of the National Championships
West Waterford will have seven athletes in action in Tullamore for Day 2 and 3 of the 123.ie National Championships. It will be an early start on the morning of Sat 22nd for our walkers with Sophie Beresford in action in the first walk the under 14 girls at 10am. Eabha Hickeywill go after that in the girls under 17 walk followed by Doireann Hickeyin the under 18 walk. Check in for the walks will close @9.15. Later in the day Fia de Paor will compete in the 3000m under 16. Check in for the 3000m closes at 3pm with the race scheduled for 3.45 but the programme last weekend went 30mins early.
On Sunday Noah Commins will compete in the boys under 15 1500m with check in closing at 10.30. Michalina Goclik will compete in the under 15 shot @1.30 and Saoirse Quinn is down for the hammer @3pm but this may start ahead of schedule.
Last Night of Club Training on Wed 12th July
Club Training will finish on Wed next July 12th and we will be back in action at the end of August as we prepare for the cross country season. Thank you to all our coaches who worked with our athletes over the last few months. See you all again for the cross country.
