Sunday 29th January saw Tara AC host the 2017 running of the mini-league track and field meeting. Each year Dunboyne AC, Dunshaughlin AC, Ratoath AC and Tara AC contest this friendly competition for our under 9, 10, 11, and 12 age groups. There are 4 events per each age group, 60 metres, Long Jump, Turbo Javelin plus a longer race (300m for under 9, 500m for under 10 and 600m for under 11 & 12). Points are awarded to the first 6 places in each event and are collated at the end of the day to decide the overall winning club.
Dunboyne AC brought 33 of our youngest athletic stars to the event today and each and every one of them performed fantastically.
In the 60m sprints we had some great performances. Li-Ann Grogan won her U10 race as did Cian Doyle in the boys race. In the under 11 boys Jack Doyle made it a Doyle family double with his victory. Jed Collins initiated his hat trick of wins in the under 12 boys event while across all the age groups we had several athletes finishing well up the point scoring positions meaning Dunboyne were the highest scoring club after all the sprint races.
In the long jump pit, things were a little tougher but all our athletes held their own, scoring plenty of points in the overall competition. Jed Collins again won his event, leading home a Dunboyne 1,2,3 in the process. After all the jumps were concluded, Dunboyne AC finished a respectable 3rd place in the long jump section.
The Turbo Javelin proved more fruitful for Dunboyne with Siadbh Pitt winning her event. Amy O’Reilly and Maeve Walsh had a fantastic 1-2 in the under 11 competition and we also had a great throwing from the under 9 girls who took part here. A decent point haul here gave Dunboyne AC 3rd place in the Turbo Javelin section of the competition.
Back to the track for the longer races and the under 9 300m commenced proceedings. The girls race was very exciting as Holly Ryan and Katie O’Reilly gave Dunboyne AC a great 1-2. Cian Doyle was 2nd in the under 10 500m. Li-Ann Grogan was at it again, impressively winning the under 10 500m race. Dylan Ryan was 2nd in the under 11 600m and Jed Collins completed his hat-trick of wins with a storming run in the u12 600m, again heading a Dunboyne 1-2-3. With a host of other Dunboyne AC athletes filling the point scoring positions in most of the races it was no surprise to see Dunboyne AC again getting the highest points total of all 4 clubs for these track races.
After the overall points were added up it showed that Tara AC were the overall winners, Ratoath Ac were 2nd , Dunboyne AC finished a very close 3rd with Dunshaughlin AC in 4th place. Congratulations to all at Tara AC for a fine win on the day.
Well done to all the athletes who competed so well over the events. The future is certainly bright for Dunboyne AC judging by the array of talent on display today.
A big thank you goes out to all the parents who came out to support and assist today. Finally Dunboyne AC would like to thank Tara AC for an extremely well run and very friendly event. We look forward to taking part in this fun event again next year.
Click HERE to see the photos on the club’s Flickr account.
