As the Irish ‘heatwave’ descended upon Navan on Sunday morning, 14 hopeful Dunboyne athletes descended on the Claremont Stadium in search of medals at the Meath Championships – Day 4 Hurdles.
First up the under 12 girls 60m hurdles- Aideen Reilly and Laura Gavin. A super run by Aideen saw her secure a comfortable gold, to top off the two silvers she won on Day 2, in the 60m sprint and long jump. A great run by Laura saw her narrowly miss out on the final.
Next up the ever enthusiastic under 13 girls up against the might of Cushinstown in the 60m hurdles – unfortunately the dedicated hurdles training of the girls in green prevailed, as Cushinstown finished 1, 2, 3 in the final, followed by the Dunboyne trio of Lorena Harrison, Rachel Norman and Kate Griffen. Lucy Eglington and Niamh Sherlock missing out on the final after being draw in a very fast heat – Niamh I open the knee’s ok after a heavy hit at the first hurdle. Those hurdles hurt!
Cometh the hour … up stepped the under 13 boys for their 60m hurdles – a 1, 2, 3 for Dunboyne as Cian Smyth, Ross Lyons (yet another event and another medal) and, the relative newcomer, but already a regular on the podium, Pablo Mendoza. Well done guys.
Onto the Under 14 girls and a great run by Abby Knox saw her finish second in the 75m hurdles to the regular Meath hurdle champion from Ratoath. Not to be outdone, big sister Vicky ran a very impressive 250m hurdles to storm home first and claim the gold. That achievement was matched by Caeloin O’Flaherty in the Junior Boys 400m hurdles, where again a great run claimed gold for Dunboyne.
Having taught the juveniles everything he knows, it was time for coach Keith Eglington to put his money where his mouth is! Winning silver in the 110m hurdles and gold in the 400m hurdles (those hurdles looked very high by anyone’s standards), Keith will now be able to maintain the respect of his pupils!
Well done to all of our athletes, the majority of which have only started hurdling this season. Also a big thanks to Coach Sinead – you can really see the improvement in the quality of the hurdling.
Click HERE to view the photos. Thanks, as ever to the parents, for the support to the athletes on the day and to be continued on Wednesday with the Meath relays…
