Last Saturday 11th June was a momentous day for the club with our Juvenile athletes impressing once again at provincial level.  38 of our brightest and best athletes made their way to Tullamore Stadium to contest the Leinster U9 – U11 Pairs and U12 & U13 Individual Championships.  Our team were competing with the cream of Leinster athletics in the Under 9 to Under 13 age groups.

The events for under 9’s, 10’s and 11’s are in the form of a pairs competition where the performances of each athlete are combined to get the finishing positions.  Vital therefore to have 2 very competitive athletes paired up as each athlete depends on the performance of their partner.  We had one under 9 girls pairing competing on the day.  Sadhbh Pitt and Catherine Hanlon are two very talented young athletes and went into battle in the Long Jump and in the 60m sprint.  After both girls jumped tremendously well in the Long jump, the news came back that they agonisingly just missed out on a medal by just 12cm.  They finished with a fantastic 4th place overall which was an amazing result.   They were also outside the medals in the 60m sprint but ran very well on the day.  No doubt they will get better and better and many medals will be won by these girls.   As for the boys, Andrew Norman and Cian Doyle paired up in the under 9 boys 60m and Long Jump while Paul Magee and Matthew Leonard combined for the 60m and Turbo Javelin.  Andrew and Cian, who have been flying in training of late, got the ball rolling for the day by both claiming a fantastic bronze medal in a very close long jump competition (just 8cm away from a Gold medal).  Mathew and Paul meanwhile, were throwing in the Turbo Javelin competition and both did well, finishing outside the medals this time while in their 60m sprint competition they competed very well again finishing outside the medals but a great experience for the boys.  Andrew and Cian were at it again in their 60m sprint.  Both boys ran incredibly well and delivered when it mattered, combining to win a second bronze medal (missing out on silver by just 1/100th of a second.  Amazing performances all round.  Well done boys.

We had two pairs of under 10’s in action.  The girl’s pair was made up of Alice Griffin and Meave Walsh while the boys were represented by Dillon Ryan and Jack Doyle.    Alice and Maeve were first up in the long jump and both performed well without medalling this time.    While in a very competitive 60m sprint competition, again the girls performed admirably while finishing outside the medal positions.  Dillon and Jack were lining up for their 500m race and after how they were performing in training recently their coaches were quietly hopeful of a good performance here.  Both boys ran incredibly strong and positive races with Dillon impressively winning his race and Jack coming second in his, to post impressive times.  With 4 races and times to be calculated there was a wait until it was confirmed that their combined time was good enough for Bronze.   A really great performance in what is a very competitive event.  Not content with that they attacked their 60m sprint heats with gusto and after winning their heats they matched their 500m result with yet another bronze medal.  Jack matching the double bronze medal haul of younger brother Cian so the Doyle family were weighed down with medals on the way home to Dunboyne on Saturday evening.    This was a really huge performance from a very talented group of under 10 athletes.

Next up were our under 11 pairs.  3 combinations here represented Dunboyne AC.  Erin O’Toole and Elizabeth Comerford lined up in the Long Jump and 60m sprint for the girls.  The boys had 2 pairs competing.  Darragh Harrison and Jack Arthurs also lined up in the Long Jump and 60m and Mathieu Kieffer and Ciaran McCormack teamed up in the 600m and Long Jump.  First up was the 600m and after soldiering together for 3 years and finishing agonisingly close to a medal each time, Ciaran and Mathieu knew this was their last year competing together as a pair.  Again their coaches were confident that if they performed to their ability they could finally land that medal.  Both boys ran very good races in their heats with Mathieu finishing second in his and Ciaran finishing fourth.  Both ran fast times so confidence was high and when the result came through it showed the boys had delivered a silver medal behind an incredibly fast Mullingar Harriers team.  It was a really strong performance from the boys here.  There was no time to celebrate, however, as they had to go straight to the long jump pit to join Darragh and Jack for the long jump competition.  Darragh and Jack competed well here but finished outside the medals and fatigue showed for Mathieu and Ciaran as both boys didn’t jump the distances they would normally have expected as they also finished outside the medals.   In the other long jump pit Erin and Elizabeth were in a tough girls long jump competition with both girls battling hard and jumping well without medalling this time.  Erin and Elizabeth both moved to the 60m sprint start line and were joined there by Darragh and Jack for their event.  Erin and Elizabeth both ran good heats but ultimately their times would not be quick enough to get amongst the medals this time and it was a similar story for Darragh and Jack who again ran well without getting a medal on this occasion.

Then it was onto the Under 12 and 13 individual competitions.  There were 5 under 12’s in action on Saturday.  Aideen Reilly and Sinead Magee in the Long Jump and 60m, Aleah Kelly in the 600m and Long Jump, Sophie Dolan in the 600m and our only under 12 boy, Charlie Manning in the Shot Putt.  The 600m heats were up first and Aleah & Sophie both ran impressively and sensibly to qualify easily from their heats.    The final was run at a breakneck pace and both girls ran really sensible races and followed instructions to emerge with 200m to go in a titanic battle for second place.  As they drew clear from the remainder of the field it was fantastic to see the two Dunboyne AC singlets battle it out for the silver medal down the home straight.  Sophie held on this time to claim a fantastic silver medal with Aleah 0.5 of a second behind her to claim an equally fantastic Bronze.   It was great running from the girls in a high quality field which was won by the All Ireland Champion.  Aleah lined up again with club mates Aideen and Sinead in the long jump competition.  Aideen was below par on the day and didn’t jump to anywhere near her usual high standards, finishing outside of the medals.  Aleah and Sinead were also outside the medals here but jumped well on the day.  Charlie Manning threw a PB in a very high standard shot putt competition so should be very satisfied with his performance on the day.  In the under 12 60m sprint Sinead and Aideen represented the club.   Qualifying was always going to be difficult as there were so many entries on the day.  Aideen won her heat to progress to the semi-finals.  Sinead was very unlucky not to progress in a blanket finish to her heat but she ran a good race here.  In the semi Aideen finshed 3rd with only 2 automatic qualifiers she had to wait for the other heat times to see if she could bag a fastest loser spot.  She did just that and made the final where she performed to the level we expect and blasted out of the blocks to scorch down the track to a brilliant silver medal.  Talk about living dangerously!

As per usual our under 13 girls were out in force.  First up were our 60m hurdlers who have been doing a lot of extra training for this technical event.  Rachel Norman, Holly Conlon, Kate Griffin and Niamh Sherlock all lined up for the heats.  While Rachel qualified out of her heat and into the final, Niamh and Kate were unlucky not to progress.  Disaster stuck for Holly as two false starts ended her competition prematurely.  Heart breaking and very harsh on Holly but she will be back as she is an extremely talented sprint hurdler.  In the final, Rachel set a PB in finishing 6th.  This was a really good run here and a sign of real progress.  We had 3 girls competing in the 600m race.  Kayla Ryan, Aoife McCormack and Rachel Norman all lined up in their heats hoping to make the final.  This is a particularly competitive event at Leinster level with huge strength in depth at this age group.  Kayla and Aoife both qualified for the final, comfortably, in the automatic spots, Aoife running a PB in the process while Rachel battled hard in her heat but missed out on the final this time.  The final was run at an incredibly fast pace here with Kayla moving through the field with 250m to go to get herself into a medal position.  She held her third place position all down the home straight under huge pressure from the Crookstown AC athlete and in a desperately close finish both girls lunged for the line in an attempt to claim the bronze.  It was so close it had to be left to a photo finish to determine who got the bronze medal.  A nervous wait was followed by great celebrations when the word filtered through that Kayla had held on in the photo finish to claim a fantastic bronze in a PB time thus adding to younger brother Dillon’s two bronze medals. Aoife battled hard throughout the final finishing outside the medals but almost matched her PB time set earlier in the heat, to round off a satisfying couple of runs here.

As well as having very strong middle distance runners, we are blessed with a plenty of sprinting talent within the ranks of our under 13 girls.  Lorena Harrison, Derval McNicholas, Lucy Eglington and Ruby McFeat all lined up for the 80m sprint.  Again big fields were entered here with the cream of Leinster sprinters all in attendance hoping to make the final.  With only 3 places to secure a semi-final place it was going to be tough.  Ruby ran well but unfortunately didn’t make it out of her heat in a fast run race.  Loreana, Derval and Lucy all ran well in their heats to progress to the semi-finals, all 3 girls finishing 2nd in their heats.   With only 2 automatic spots available to make the final in each of the 3 semi-finals, qualifying was extremely difficult.  Lucy ran well in her semi but wasn’t able to snatch a final qualifying place this time in what was a very fast race.  Both Loreana and Derval ran great races to reach the final with Derval winning her semi.  Getting two Dunboyne AC athletes to the final was a great achievement here.  In the final Loreana ran a fantastic race to finish agonisingly close to a medal, finishing 4th.  Derval also ran really well in the final to finish just behind.  Great sprinting by all the girls who are improving all the time and should be proud of their performances.

We had Loreana Harrison, Rachel Norman, Niamh Sherlock, Lucy Eglington and Kirsten Kelly Moody on Long Jump duty.  All the girls jumped well on the day with Rachel making the final.  A very consistent set of jumps from Rachel resulted in a new PB and an excellent 5th place finish.  This was a very good result in a very tough competition.  Aoife McCormack set another PB in the shot put competition while finishing just outside the medals.  Ruby McFeat was on Javelin duty and also threw well while finishing outside the medals this time.  Kate Griffin was competing in the High Jump competition and jumped well without medalling this time.

Finally, our talented under 13 boys were represented on the day by Cian Smith, Ross Lyons and Pablo Mendoza and all performed well.  Pablo lined up in his first Leinster competition in the 80m sprint.  He ran really well without medalling on this occasion.  Cian was impressive, as usual, in his 60m hurdles heat, winning it with the minimum of fuss.   In the final he was even more impressive and hurdled smoothly to another Gold medal.  Great running here from Cian.  Ross lined up for his 600m heat knowing he just had to ensure he finished in the first 4 to reach the final.  He duly won the heat impressively and hopes were high of a good run in the final.  The final was a quick affair, not least because Ross himself forced the pace and took it up with 300m to go.  Things looked good until he was reeled in about 40m from the finish but a silver medal here was a fantastic performance from Ross.  The winning time was only a couple of tenths of a second outside the record and Ross himself ran a PB so it was a really strong run.

Cian Doyle, Jack Doyle Darragh Harrison & Dillon Ryan made up the Meath inter county relay team which finished outside the medals late in the afternoon on Saturday.  Lucy Eglington, Lorena Harrison, Dervla Nicholas and Kayla Ryan also represented Meath and unfortunately were disqualified while bang in contention for a medal in their relay.  Aideen Reilly joined forces with athletes from Cushinstown AC and Rathoath AC to finish an impressive fourth in their race in what brought the curtain down on a long day’s racing.

In all, our juvenile athletes representing, Dunboyne AC, returned home from Tullamore with medals in 11 events.  This represented a fantastic achievement in what is a hugely competitive level and a significant improvement on previous years.  Not only that, there were many other great performances and several PB’s so all athletes who represented the club should be very proud of their performances on Saturday last.  Best of luck to all those who qualified for the All Ireland’s in July.

Thank you to the parents and coaches who travelled and special thanks to Keith who was our official on the day and good luck to our under 14 to under 19 athletes competing in their Leinster Championships this coming weekend.