8 West Waterford Athlete to Compete in the National Championships this Weekend
Eight young West Waterford athletes will head to Tullamore this weekend to compete against the best young athletes in the country in Day 1of the123 All Ireland Track and Field Championships. This is the highlight of the season as all the athletes present will have qualified through their provincial championships.
First All Ireland for Lily and Michalina
First up on Saturday morning in the under 15 Discus event will be Lily Burke and Michalina Goclik. Both girls will be competing in the All Ireland for the first time, having secured their place with impressive performance at the Munster Championships where they finished first and second with personal best performances. It will be an early start for the girls as the event gets underway at 10.00am and they need to be at the venue an hour before competition.
Saoirse and Eoghan O’Brien compete in under 18 Discus
Also in action in the under 18 Boys Discus @11.30 will be Eoghan O’Brien and Saoirse Quinn will compete in the under 18 Girls Discus @3pm. Eoghan had a personal best in Munster and will be looking to improve on that on Saturday and Saoirse will be looking to throw over 30m again as she faces tough opposition from the Leinster athletes.
Isabella and Noah take to the Track in the 800m
The 800m events get underway @1pm with check in closing @12noon. Isabelle Gaffney will compete in the first of the 800m races which is the under 14 girls. A few races later Noah Commins will toe the line in the under 15 boys. Both events are likely to have heats with athletes qualify for the finals @4.30. This will be a new experience for Isabelle and Noah and the first task will be negotiating the heats and ensuring they qualify for the final. This is well within their capabilities and we look forward to seeing them compete in the finals. 800m is Isabelle’s favoured distance and she has a very good kick at the end. Noah favours the 1500m but ran very well in the 800m at the Munster Championships.
Ava and Clodagh Compete on Sunday
Ava Kiely and Clodagh Lattimore will make their first appearance at an All Ireland Championship when they compete in the girls under 13 shot at the All Ireland B Championships on Sunday. Ava finished 2nd and Clodagh 3rd in the shot at the recent Munster B championships. This is a new event for the girls as they took it up for the first time this season. Both will be looking to improve on their personal best performances on Sunday.
The best of luck to all our athletes competing in Tullamore next weekend.
Training Wraps Up on Wed 12th July
Club Training will finish for the Summer with our last session on Wed 12th July. It will be a chance for our younger athletes to relax and enjoy their summer holidays before we start back at the end of August for the cross country season. We will still have training for those who are competing in the All Ireland on the weekend of the 22/23rd of July.
