Olympian Youth and AC athletes had a busy two weeks competition with athletes travelling to all parts of the country.
A number of our juvenile stars travelling to Athlone IT over 3 days competition for the Irish Life Health National Indoor Juvenile Championships, some of our Cross-country runners compete at the Ulster and NI U17 Mountain Running Trials in Castlewellan, Co. Down and our Senior athletes compete at the Omagh Half Marathon.
First saw our juvenile athletes compete at the Irish Life Health National Indoor Juvenile Championships over the various days of the competition with Days 1 & 2 being held on Saturday 30th & Sunday 31st March and Day 3 on Saturday 6th April.
With 10 individual athletes and 1 relay team making the trip down to Athlone IT having previously qualified from the Ulster & NI Championships, it was all more impressive for the club as it saw a number of these athletes competing in their first All Ireland Indoor Championships.
An excellent championship was had by all with all our Olympian’s rising to the challenge and competing with great heart.
Over the 3 days of competition three of our young athletes climbed the medal rostrum as one of the top three in the country for their respected events.
Day 1 saw Sean Mc Ginley execute a tactically brilliant race to finish 1st and run away with the gold medal and mantle of ALL IRELAND CHAMPION in the U17 1500m. The young Glenswilly lad controlled the race from start to finish showing great tactical awareness and raced out to finish in a very impressive PB time of 4.07.51 bettering his previous best by over 5 seconds.
Next up on Day 1 was Erin Friel running in the U12 Girls 60m the young Newtowncunnigham lass, in her first individual All Ireland Championship, sprinted her way to the Final finishing 2nd in her Heat in a time of 8.87secs.
In the final, later on in the day, she got off to a great start and in a very competitive race sprinted her way on to the podium finishing in 3rd place and collected a Bronze Medal on her way bettering her PB from earlier in the day to 8.80secs.
Erin then showing her versatility donning her spikes again early on Sunday morning for a fantastic start to Day 2 for the club running a brilliant race in the U12 Girls 600m Final to finish 2nd overall.
Keeping in contention all of the race Erin put that sprinting prowess to good use around the final lap racing across the line to finish 2nd in a PB time of 1min 51.58secs and collected her second medal of the weekend a Silver on the podium.
Day 2 was crowned by Olympian Youth & AC gaining another new All Ireland Champion with young Emma Mc Daid placing 1st in the U12 Girls Shot Putt. The young Churchill athlete, again another athlete competing in her first individual All Ireland Championship, launched the shot out to an impressive 9.10m to not only collect a new PB but to also stand on the podium as All Ireland Champion and collect the second Gold Medal for the club over the weekend.
Over the weekends there were also some other great performances with a number of Personal Bests obtained.
Other noteworthy performances from the 3 days came from Henry Bose who narrowly missed out on a Bronze medal in the U18 60m Hurdles by a mere 0.2 seconds to finish 4th in a PB time of 9.12seconds and Orla O’ Doherty getting through to Final of U16 Long Jump with a brilliant series of jumps cumulating in a very impressive leap of 4.73m jumping her to a new PB and an overall 8th place in her first ever All Ireland Championships.
Olympian’s full results are as follows:
U12 Girls
Emma Mc Daid – Shot Putt 1st (Gold Medal & All Ireland Champion) in a new PB throw of 9.10m
Erin Friel – 600m 2nd (Silver Medal) in a new PB time of 1min 51.58secs
60m 3rd (Bronze Medal) in a new PB time of 8.80 secs.
U12 Girls 4x200m Relay
Team – Orlagh Faul, Anna Russell, Emma Mc Daid & Erin Friel – 11th overall and bettering their bronze medal winning Ulster Championship previous team best by 4 seconds down to a very impressive 2mins 08.40secs.
U15 Girls
Georgia Doherty – High Jump 11th overall with a jump of 1.40m
U16 Girls
Orla O’ Doherty – Long Jump 8th overall with a new PB jump of 4.73m.
U16 Boys
Sean Paul Cullen – 200m 6th in Heat in a new PB time of 25.38 secs.
High Jump 11th overall with a jump of 1.50m
U17 Girls
Clodagh Friel – 60m Hurdles 7th in Heat in a new PB time of 11.94secs.
Lara Faul – Shot Putt 11th overall with a throw of 7.00m
U17 Boys
Sean Mc Ginley – 1500m 1st (Gold medal & All Ireland Champion) in
PB time of 4.07.51
Oisin Teape – 60m 7th in Heat in a new PB time of 7.82secs
200m 6th in Heat in a new PB time of 25.38secs
U18 Boys
Donal Hughes – Long Jump 11th overall with jump of 5.49m
Next up on the busy schedule saw some of our young guns Nuala Bose and Sean Mc Ginley travel up on a wet and blustery Thursday evening last 11th April to compete at the Ulster & NI Mountain Running Trials at Castlewellan, Co. Down.
With both athletes having been selected to compete at the trails having finished impressively in the top 20 at the recent Ulster Schools Cross country Championships they both ran themselves into contention to be selected for the 2019 Ulster & NI International Mountain Running team.
First up on the evening saw the ever-improving Nuala Bose running a full year out of age competing in the U17 Girls race finish up a very impressive 4th overall and with 4 places up grabs she waits to see if she has been selected as part of the Ulster & NI International team.
Straight from his gold medal-winning 1500m run at the All Ireland Indoors Championships the weekend before seen Sean Mc Ginley set a blistering pace running himself up hill and dale into first place in the U17 Boys race.
This result means that Sean is automatically selected on the Ulster & NI International Mountain Running Team and this will keep his spikes dirty for the rest of the 2019 season 🙂 and another international vest for the ever improving young Glenswilly lad.
Finally but not to be outdone the club saw Ann Marie Mc Geehin running at the Omagh Half Marathon on Saturday 6th April placing 622nd overall running a brilliant Personal Best time smashing her previous best by 3 minutes in a very impressive clocking of 1.hr 43mins 58secs.
Again every single one of our Olympians competed with such great heart, determination and certainly gave it their best, which we couldn’t ask for any more. We are so proud of every single one you! Keep up the great training.
TRAINING
Training will continue every Tuesday night at 7:00 – 8:15pm @ Glenswilly pitch and Saturday mornings from 11am till 12.15pm at the Aura Leisure Centre.
We are insured to cater for any and all abilities from 8 years of age right up to senior and master’s level who wishes to train, keep fit, have fun, and/or compete at a local to national/ international standard.
New members as always are more than welcome. For further details, please do not hesitate to contact Martin O’ Donnell on 0863838240 or message us via Facebook (Olympian AC) or feel free to come down and have a chat on any of our club training sessions.
