Brilliant run as O’Reilly breaks four-minute barrier in Belfast

While Ireland’s elite athletes were waving the flag in Rome in one of the most successful European Championships ever for the Irish team, there was plenty of action at home that may shape future champions in years to come.

Leinster

There were 75 medals - 28 gold, 32 silver and 15 bronze - collected by clubs across the county at the Leinster juvenile track and field championships last week.

Along with those medals were two championship records. The first came from Andrew Cooper (Gowran) who threw 16.04m to smash the record set by Paul Collins (Westmeath) in 2012 by over a metre.

Cooper is still getting used to the rotation and only managed two legal throws, a feat which makes his record-breaking performance all the more remarkable. The second championship best performance came from Mattias Quaglia in the 200m.

Mattias is usually found playing rugby for most of the year but leans towards athletics for the summer months. He managed to win the 100m on Saturday and followed this up with a 200m win on Sunday, where he surpassed the existing championship record of 22.6.

Coincidentally his mother Emily Maher also set a championship record as an under-16 for the same event, the 200m. Emily’s record of 24.6 still stands from her 1996 performance.

St Joseph’s AC managed to secure six gold medals. Aisling Mullally won the girls’ under-16 shot-put with a throw of 9.25m, beating Lea Bolger (Bree) into second place. The remaining five medals came from racewalking where Evan Walsh, Lily Ryan, Amy Walsh, Richard Melbourne and Emma Walsh were victorious.

Thomastown took home two gold medals and one silver. The gold came from Victor Lamph in both the 80m and 250m hurdles. Lamph was impressive in both the long and short hurdles. He did have to work hard in the 80m hurdles, where he managed to dip to secure victory over Cillian Hoey (Emo/Rath). Zoe McKenna was second in the under-14 triple jump with a new personal best of 9.70m, which bettered the existing championship record by over 54cm. This constitutes a magnificent performance by the Thomastown athlete who took up Triple Jump just this season.

Brow Rangers were prolific in the throwing competitions, with the North Kilkenny club taking home a total of 14 medals.

Double gold was won by Eli Dunne in the under-19 hammer and discus, a nice way to end your juvenile career. Doireann Haughney had a fine victory in the under-16 discus as did Robert Patterson in the under-15 hammer. St Senan’s Daire Casey-Power won the under-17 javelin.

Gowran’s Andrew Cooper set a new record in the shot-put at the Leinster championships 

The St Senan’s pair of Charlotte Carpendale and Eve Dunphy both got silver medals in what were very competitive 1,500m and 3,000m events. Dunphy managed to get a personal best.

Pia Langton (Kilkenny City Harriers - KCH) was superb in the 800m. Fresh from her new personal best in Belfast on Saturday, Langton raced the under-18 Leinsters on Sunday. She not only won her race, but also won in a championship record performance, where she took down the 1987 record set by Geraldine Nolan (KCH). What is even more noteworthy is in the space of 24 hours Langton managed to run back-to-back 800m races, both of which were under the European under-18 qualifying standard.

Sinead Cormack (KCH) gave it her all in the under-15 800m and 1,500m races. On Saturday she took gold in the 1,500m.

Tired legs perhaps played a part in her drop over the final 150 metres of Sunday’s 800m race, when Cormack had to be content to settle for silver.

Ellen Daly (KCH) and Aisling Phelan (KCH) impressed in the sprinting events. Daly secured a double victory by winning the under-15 80m and 200m finals, with Phelan being runner-up in both. After ceding the gold to Saoirse Ballsty-Byrne (Naas) Kate Maher (KCH) put in a gutsy run in the 200m to take the gold.

Anna Kelsy (Gowran) secured a discus victory in the girls’ under-15 as did Ailbhe Steiger in the under-16 pole vault. There was further gold for Jack Gardiner in the hammer.

On the back of a successful Irish mixed relay team in both the World Relays and the European Track and Field, Athletics Leinster decided to add an under-16 and under-18 mixed relay to the programme. Kilkenny City Harriers won the inaugural under-18 mixed relay from Celbridge.

O’Reilly breaks four minute barrier

Three of the county’s athletes were in action at the British Milers Meet in Belfast on Saturday. Pride of place must go to Cathal O’Reilly, who produced a storming final 120 metres to dip under the four-minute mile barrier for the first time ever.

Recording a sub four-minute mile has always been a milestone for any middle-distance athlete. On May 6 this year it was 70 years since Roger Bannister became the first ever athlete to run under four minutes for the mile. Here in Ireland there have been 390 sub four minute performances by 222 athletes in 83 races across 15 venues. The very first one recorded in Ireland was on August 6, 1958, when Herb Elliott (Australia) crossed the line for first place in a Santry meeting in a world record 3.54.5 with a total of five going under the barrier in that race.

In the Belfast race last Saturday, there were five athletes who achieved this performance. Cathal has now become the 395th person in Ireland to run a sub four-minute mile.

Pia Langton (KCH) impressed in the BMC in Belfast and The Leinsters in Tullamore

Two other athletes were in action in Belfast. In the 800m Pia Langton achieved a new personal best in the 800m when she clocked 2.08, which now places her firmly in the top two ranked Irish under-18 girls to have achieved the under-18 European qualifying time.

David Williams (St Senan’s) competed in the 3,000m where he was just one second outside of his personal best.

Paralympics Paris

Mary Fitzgerald (Gowran) was in action again last week. Fitzgerald travelled to Paris as one of a seven-strong Irish team to compete at the 2024 Handisport Open. In the Stade Sébastien Charléty, she competed in the F40 Shot Putt where she threw a best throw of 7.51m. The qualification window for Paris 2024 closed on June 16, so this was the final chance for Irish athletes to solidify their place on the team ahead of the Paralympic Games in August.

Mary has already achieved the standard since last February. She will now await her fate to be decided by the Irish paralympic council.

Euros for Lynch

Last week, in Rome Ireland had its most successful ever European Championships, taking home two golds and two silvers. The nation was seen shouting out words of encouragement at television sets, yelling names such as Mageean, Adeleke, Barr and Mawdsley as if they were performing in their own living rooms. Amid all the this hype and pride Kilkenny’s Peter Lynch was one of five Irish 10,000m athletes taking part in those same European Championships in Rome.

Peter has previously competed at the European Cross-Country for team Ireland. This was his first ever European Track and Field competition. Having qualified on the back of his excellent 27.49.40 minute 10,000m at the Ten meet in California earlier this year, Lynch went into these championships expecting to run close to this performance.

On a hot, humid Rome evening, fast times were not going to happen. Lynch tried to keep in contention with the main group but found himself back in the second group after a period of time. He finished 22nd and can be proud to have had the opportunity to represent his nation at such a major event.

County B Championships

Thomastown was the venue for this year’s county B track and field championships. Large crowds attended, many grabbing their last chance at competition before they break for the summer.

The B championships are an ideal competition to promote younger athletes in the sport and give them an opportunity to strive for success as those who have won medals in the county track and field are ineligible to compete. Who knows, the future world champion could be amongst the competitors.

Nuenna AC were out in force, winning several medals across all age groups and disciplines. There were some standout performances from Jeff Phelan, Joey Nolan and Jack Ryan in the boys’ events and Lilian Phelan, Alicia Walsh, Katie Murphy, Grace Hickey among the girls.

Megan Walsh (Barrow Harriers) had a magnificent series of throws in the turbo javelin while her clubmate Dara Phelan looks like he has great potential in the long jump. Brow Rangers have the next generation of throwers lined up with Paul McDonald winning the under-14 shot-put with a significant distance. Abi O’Neill’s throws put the girls from Brow on the map.

Pearl Treacy took home a few medals. The Gowran athlete ran very well to take gold in the 800m. Peter Grimley (Gowran) also accumulated a collection of medals.

The walks were added to the competition for the first time and similar to this year’s county championships, the B Championships also boosted significant numbers with upwards of 20 competing in the under-12 competitions.

For some, the summer’s competition ends here. For others there will be progression to the Leinster Championships. Either way it has been a good summer of athletics so far.