This weekend  it was the turn of our young athletes to strut their stuff at the Dublin Juvenile  Track and Field Championships. This they did in style. A record 102 young athletes, many competing in numerous events flew the Donore colours as never before. Not all can win medals but they gave it everything and performed to their best, gaining  invaluable experience in the process. For many it was their first taste of Championship competition. 

We had high expectations for medals but these were exceeded by the fantastic performances of our young athletes.At the end of three days, our athletes had amassed a total medal haul of 57 medals, made up of 24 gold, 19 silver and 14 bronze.

There were lots of stars for the club, although we don’t want to pick out some over others. However when an athlete wins 5 gold and a silver as Kaladay Abidon did, then it has to be seen as special. Lara O’Byrne produced a number of fantastic performances to win 2 golds, 2 silver and 2 bronze. Add in Max Carey’s 2 golds and 3 seconds, Jack Rudden- Kelly’s 3 gold and 1 silver, Rebecca Power taking three golds in Hammer, Javelin  and Discus.

A new first in the history of the club history was achieved in the U17 Girls Pole Vault when Aibne Healy became the first Donore athlete to win a Dublin Juvenile Pole Vault Championship.

There were lots of other great performances from our medal winners. It should be remembered that several of our athletes are taking their Leaving and Junior certs at the moment, so it is great credit to them and their parents to make time compete in these championships 

An excellent spread sheet of all the results has been done by Gemma Carey, which will be available in the club house and hopefully on-line.This was a huge logistical and organisational operation by the juvenile section lead by Leonie Newman and her team of dedicated administrators, including Linda , Natalie, Judy, Michael, Gemma and others including our parents. To all congrats on a superb job done. Finally, to our brilliant coaches congratulations on your excellent results and thank you for all the work done with our young athletes over the years. The club is now reaping the rewards of your skill and dedication. We are so lucky to have coaches of your calibre.

At the Bohermeen Patrick Bell Memoiral on Saturday, our senior ladies ran brilliantly to finish as first ladies team. First home for the ladies was Nic Dhomhnaill in 5th place (19.01) Sorcha Nic Dhomhnaill was 6th (19.10), Maura Kearns 17th (19.59), Sam Conroy 23rd (20.49), Grainne Nolan 31st (21.42) and Pauline Fagan 100th (27.20).

First home for the men was Des Tremble 27th (17.17), Fred Kiernan 28th (17.21), Tony Barry 30th (17.29), Tom Fagan (18.34), Joe Murphy (19.05), Terry Mee (21.45) and Jim McNamara (22.05).