Athletics Review- Double podium places for Castlecomer and Thomastown Leinster duos

Tullamore was the venue for day three of the Leinster Track & Field Championships last weekend with the under-nine to 11 pairs and under-12s and under-13s all competing in sprints, distance, jumps and throws.

Juvenile athletics is certainly on a high at the moment, with record numbers entering for county and provincial events. In the under-11 girls’ pairs there were 86 athletes competing in the sprints and 80 in the long jump, which is testament to the popularity of the sport at the moment. The top three pairs who medalled will now go onto the nationals at the end of June. The top four athletes from individual competitions (three in the middle distance) will also go on to compete at Nationals.

Plenty of medals came home to Kilkenny as three clubs medalled in the younger age pairs. Castlecomer’s Cian Nolan and Diarmuid Maher claimed bronze in the under-11 600m and the under-11 60m sprint. Thomastown also had double medal success with Georgia Keyes and Julianne Doyle taking silver in the under-11 60m sprint and silver in under-11 turbo javelin.

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Thomastown’s youngest duo Amelia Dunne and Erin Smyth took silver in their under-nine long jump, just missing out on gold by one centimetre. Their clubmates Hugo Jasinghe and Cian Hickey also took silver in the boys’ under-10 turbo javelin.

Castlecomer’s Patrick Comerford and Oisin Fogarty took the gold in the boys’ under-11 turbo javelin, with both boys having excellent throws. Patrick threw a phenomenal 30.10m while Oisin threw 17.26m, for a combined 47.36m for the gold, over 10m longer than second place. Kilkenny City Harriers (KCH) duo Amenze Victor and Florence O’Donoghue ran two super sprint heats to take the bronze in the girls’ under-11 60m sprint.

In the girls’ under-13 600m final Millie Walsh (St Senan’s) ran a great race to finish in third place and take the bronze medal, while Aaron Tyrrell (KCH) stormed to victory in the boys’ under-13 600m final to win gold in a time of 1:43.18.

Thomastown’s Luke Hanlon was in action in the boys’ under-12 shot put, winning gold with 9.09m on his second throw. KCH won three medals overall in the high jump - Roisin Hyland claimed silver in a three-way tie after all jumped 1.20m. In the girls’ under-13 competition the top three all finished on 1.41m with Aoibhinn Hyland winning bronze on the countback. Conor Lawrence Delaney won his under-13 high jump with an impressive 1.46m to claim the gold.

The intercounty relays saw great success with the under-11 girls winning gold and the under-11 boys bronze. The under-13 girls just missed out on a medal by .06 of a second to finish fourth, while the under-13 boys were very unlucky to be disqualified after the race.