Following the successful opening day of the 2016 indoor championships the pressure was on the Dunboyne AC contingent who travelled to Athlone on day 2, to maintain the high standards set by their club mates on day 1.

The morning session was dominated by the sprint hurdlers and high jumpers.  In the Under 13 girls 60m Hurdles, Kate Griffin and Holly Conlon were first to walk onto the blue tartan.  Kate ran a great heat to finish second and Holly equally excelled to finish fourth in her heat in a very fast time.  Qualifying for the final was extremely difficult with only heat winners guaranteed so there was an anxious wait for the times.  In the end both girls narrowly missed out but they both should take great encouragement as they performed extremely well in what is a relatively new event for both of them.

Cian Smith was our sole representative in the boys Under 13 60m.  He has been specialising on his hurdling of late and it showed, as he comfortably won his heat and qualifying for the final with the minimum of fuss.  His time was impressive, so fingers were crossed in advance of his medal race.  In the final Cian got away well and hurdled smoothly throughout to capture the gold medal with an impressive run.  Considering he was ill during the week he really showed great determination to capture his first indoor Leinster gold medal.  A special thanks to Ciaran Conlon and Tom Clinton who have spent endless hours up in Clairemount Stadium changing and perfecting Cian’s stride. The Dunboyne AC coaching staff, Cian and family are forever grateful for their time and effort.

In the boys Under 14 60m Hurdles Tadgh O’Muircheartaigh ran well and finished outside the medals this time.  He will be back in his more favoured events on day 3 where expectations will be high.

Victoria Knox ran very well in her U15 60m hurdles not long after competing in her High Jump competition.  She started very well and finished 2^nd in her hurdle heat which unfortunately was not enough to progress this time.  She jumped 1.30 in her high jump which was consistent jumping from Victoria but it wasn’t just enough to produce a medal this time but she will be back for day 3.

While the hurdlers were sprinting down the middle of the arena we had Jack Nyham competing in the Under 17 boys Shot Put competition.  Jack threw a consistent set of throws and in the end won a fantastic Leinster Gold Medal.  Afterwards he expressed a pang of regret as he had his eye on the championship record (his winning throw came agonisingly close) but championships are all about medals and he should be very proud of his Gold medal here which was an impressive achievement.

Thomas Thornton was on duty for Dunboyne AC in the Under 17 High Jump competition.  He jumped impressively throughout and made the final.  With his 1.65 jump he finished in a top 6 position which was a very good performance from Thomas.

The afternoon session was all about our under 12’s and 13’s as the 600m and Long Jump competitions took centre stage.  As usual there were very large fields entered for the 600’s so qualifying would be difficult and heats would have big numbers, meaning racing would be rough with all athletes fighting for their racing positions.

In the under 12 Girls 600m event, Dunboyne AC had three very talented athletes entered.  Laura Gavin, Aleah Kelly and Sophie Dolan were all primed and ready to perform.  Laura was positive in her heat and took it out hard giving her the best chance she could of qualifying from her tough heat.  She led most of the way and didn’t panic when passed on the last lap.  She battled hard to claim 4^th place in a good time which would see her through to the final.   Aleah ran a really sensible race in her heat and worked her way through the field to easily guarantee herself an automatic qualifying spot by finishing 2^nd.   Sophie also ran a very steady heat and didn’t panic in qualifying automatically in 2^nd place looking strong throughout.  3 girls entered and 3 girls through to the final which was a very big achievement for Dunboyne AC.

The final was run at breakneck speed and all 3 girls had to battle for racing positions throughout with plenty of bumping and jostling.   Laura was prominent early, as was Sophie while Aleah came through the field impressively as the race progressed.  In the final run to the line a blistering sprint from Sophie earned her a brilliant Silver medal while Aleah was closing with every stride to finish in a highly impressive 5^th place.  Laura battled all the way to the line to finish in the top 10 which was a really strong run from her.  Great running from all 3 girls and yet another medal to add to the collection for Dunboyne AC athletes.

Our Under 12 boys were all competing in this world class indoor arena for the first time.  Adam Vaughan, Adam Smyth and Caeloin McGovern were Dunboyne AC’s representatives here and incredibly, despite there being 4 heats, were all drawn together in the final heat.  In a fast contest the boys were up against it.  Adam Vaughan tried to force the pace and in a positive move went out hard and really went for it.  This almost paid off but after a really good run he just failed to grab an automatic qualification position and finished in a very strong 4^th place.  Unfortunately after a long wait the news filtered through that his time was just outside the qualification times but he can be proud of his run here.  Adam Smyth similarly battled hard throughout this heat and ran all the way to the line to finish in the middle of the field while Caeloin McGovern also ran well and battled to finish just behind Adam.  It was a great experience for these three boys who will no doubt be strong competitors for the club throughout this track season.

Our Under 13’s Girls of Rachel Normal, Kayla Ryan and Aoife McCormack were in an extremely competitive field of 600m runners with huge strength in depth in this age group across the province.  An injury impacted Aoife never looked comfortable in her extremely fast heat and finished 8^th after running a time which was some way short of what she is capable of running.  Rachel went out and was positive in her approach to her heat ensuring she was in one of the automatic qualification positions throughout.  She battled hard all the way to the line to ensure she deservedly grabbed an automatic spot and made her way through to the final with a 4^th place finish in her heat.  In Kayla’s heat she came up against the pre-race favourite and she ran strongly throughout putting in a very strong finish to claim 2^nd spot just beaten by inches, despite her coach roaring at her to slow down from 100m out as qualification was assured.

In the final Kayla and Rachel were up against some very strong 600m runners.  Their coaches were wondering if the exertions in qualification may impact their final performance especially with the relatively short turnaround.  Both girls ran their hearts out and battled throughout but it was not to be their day with Kayla finishing 8^th and Rachel 13^th.  This was great experience and will stand to them when they run heats and finals in the outdoor championships throughout the summer.  Both girls deserve a lot of credit for getting to a final in what is such a competitive category.

Ross Lyons was our sole representative in the Under 13 boys 600.  In his heat Ross ran a messy race and got too far back too early and while he made significant progress in the last 250m he just failed to grab an automatic qualification position finishing 5^th.  He time was good however, good enough to get him into the final.  After some strong words beforehand and instructions given that he must be more positive, Ross showed he had learnt his lesson from his heat and went out much harder and put himself in medal position for all of the first 400m.  With 200m to go he was passed and while in 4^th he rallied again on the turn for home to close up again but just failed to get on the podium.  However this was a really strong run from Ross who ran his heart out and was unlucky not to medal here.

While the noisy 600m races were in full flow there was a very notable under 12 Girls Long Jump competition quietly going on in the infield area.  Dunboyne AC had two athletes competing here, Serena Gavin and Aideen Reilly.  Both girls jumped well with Aideen making it through to the final where finalists got the chance to have three more jumps.  Serena was unlucky not to make it through here but jumped really well and she will improve as we do more long jumping in the club in the coming months.  We knew Aideen was in contention as we tried to communicate with her in the infield area via sign language and the odd shout.   Fingers were crossed as she continued to jump impressively.    In the end we got the signal we wanted – Gold for Aideen.  A brilliant end to another successful day at the fabulous Athlone Indoor facility.

Everyone who competed on Sunday was a credit to their coaches, their parents and their club and they all should be so proud of their performances.  The coaching team are all very proud of each and every one of them and look forward to the rest of the track and field season with great optimism.

Click HERE for the photos.