Donore Harriers had a return of 33 medals from the first weekend of the Dublin Indoor Track & Field championships for juvenile athletes (13-15/2/15). It was an action packed weekend with the competition held on Friday evening and Saturday at Santry Stadium and at Tallaght track on Sunday. Multi-event specialist Lara O’Byrne proved to be the star performer with 3 golds (High Jump, Shot Putt & Pole Vault) and a silver (Long Jump) in the under 16s age group. The club’s leading young sprinters struck gold as Aoife Lynch (u/16s), Kolade Abiodun (u/16s) and Sean Lawlor (u/19s) all excelled.
The club’s growing reputation for producing excellent young throwing event athletes was again evident. Ashling Read (Girls u/14s), the aforementioned Lara O’Byrne, Lauren O’Keeffe (Girls u/17s) and Oran O’Brien (Boys u/18s) made it four golds in the Shot Putt. With the pole vault being introduced to the competition for the first time it was great the see Donore Harriers to the fore as Lara O’Byrne and Albhe Healy (Girls u/18s) vaulted to gold.
Clodagh Read (Girls u/17s) won three individual silver medals in the Long Jump, Shot Putt and Triple Jump. Lucy McCann (5.14.21) had to fend off a strong challenge from her team-mate Eliza NiThighearnaigh (5.14.9) to take silver in an exciting 1500m race.
Special mention must go to some of the club’s emerging young athletes. Rian Carey (u/13s Boys Shot Putt), Sekeriye Ahmed (u/16s Boys 1500m), Martina Hughes (u/18s Girls 200m), Lucy Hurley (u/16s Girls High Jump), Peace Onakoya (u/13s Girls Shot Putt) and Caoimhe Mackey (u/17s Girls Long Jump) were all new to the podium. Carey and Ahmed won silver medals with the remainder taking bronze.
The Donore relay teams were also very competitive with 2 silver and 4 bronze medals.
At the Leinster Schools Cross Country championships at Santry Demesne (11/2/15) Donore athletes Lucy McCann, Fathi Aden and Sekeriye Ahmed all qualified to compete in the national finals due to take place at Clongowes on the 7th of March. McCann (Scoil Mhuire, Clane), competing in the Girls intermediate race, made a careful start and worked her way through to 15th and the final qualifying position. Ciara Murphy (also Scoil Mhuire), who is relatively new to the sport, gave more indication of her emerging talent when placing 23rd.
Fathi Aden and Sekeriye Ahmed (both Synge Street) worked their way through to 6th and 8th in the Junior Boys race. Both lost ground in the melee at the start and will hopefully gain from the experience.
Niamh O’Neill (Castleknock CC) put in a big challenge on the first lap to hold 7th place, but she lost ground on lap 2 and fell back to 23rd in the Senior Girls race over 2.5km. A very strong field in Senior Boys made it tough going for Sam Gallager (Lucan CBS) and Stephen Gavin (Salesians). They eventually had to settle for 20th and 26th placings. Gabhan O’Tighearnaigh (CUS) came 80th, but was stepping-up an age group.
On a quiet weekend for the senior athletes the exploits of Garvan Smith (16th in 3.35.59) and Sean Fox (17th in 3.38.28) took centre stage. Both competed in the Donadea 50km road race on Saturday (14/2/15). Over the 10 laps course the two men ran side by side until the penultimate lap. Fox ‘hit the wall’ somewhere between 40km and 45 km, but made a good recover on the final lap and actually gained on his teammate over the final 5km circuit.
Elsewhere there were encouraging results for two athletes recovering from long-term injury. Dervila Holmes (11.56) placed 2nd in the Business Houses Garda Boat Club women’s race over 2 miles in the Phoenix Park on Saturday (14/2/15), whilst Sinead Lambe (19.30) was 12th overall and the first woman home in the St. Anne’s 5km Parkun (14/2/15).
Results in brief:
BHAA North Farmers XC at Balheary Park, Swords (7/2/15): Men’s 5 mile = 40th Ian Redican M40 (31.05); 126th Tommy Halton M55 (39.54)
Donadea RC 50km (14/2/15): 16th Garvan Smith M40 (3.35.59) 5km splits 21:58: 20:49: 20:50: 21:02: 20:58: 20:59: 21:15: 21:12: 22:24: 24:32; 17th Sean Fox M35 (3.38.28) 5km splits 21:58: 20:50: 20:50: 21:04: 20:57: 20:59: 21:15: 21:12: 25:14: 24:10
St. Anne’s 5km Parkrun (14/2/15): 12th / 1st woman Sinead Lambe (19.30)
BHAA Garda Boat Club XC at Phoenix Park (14/2/15): Women’s 2 mile race = 2nd Dervila Holmes F35 (11.56); 82nd Ann Woodlock F75 (18.06)
Men’s 4 miles = 9th Henry English M35 (22.41); 111th Desmond Gill M45 (28.44); 166th Terry Mee M70 (31.36); 186th Joseph Maguire M75 (33.34)
Juvenile results
Leinster Schools Cross Country championships at Santry Demesne (11/2/15): – Intermediate Girls:Intermediate Girls = 15th Lucy McCann (Scoil Mhuire Clane); 23rd Ciara Murphy (Scoil Mhuire Clane); 33rd Claire O’Connor (St. Louis): Senior Girls = 23rd Niamh O’Neill (Castleknock CC): Junior Boys = 6th Fathi Aden (Synge Street CBS); 8th Sekeriye Ahmed (Synge Street CBS); 94th Jack Raftery (Castleknock CC): Senior Boys = 20th Sam Gallagher (CBS Lucan); 26th Stephen Gavin (Salesian College); 80th Gabhan O’Tighearnaigh <stepping up> (CUS)
Lucy McCann, Fathi Aden & Sekeriye Ahmed qualify for Irish Schools cross country finals to be held at Clongowes in Clane on the 7th of March 2015.
Dublin Indoor T&F championships at Santry Stadium (13/2/15):
Gold (12): u/14s Girls Shot Putt – Ashling Read: u/16s Girls 200m – Aoife Lynch: u/16s Girls – High Jump – Lara O’Byrne: u/16s Girls Shot Putt – Lara O’Byrne: u/16s Girls Pole Vault – Lara O’Byrne: u/17s Girls Shot Putt – Lauren O’Keeffe: u/18s Girls Triple Jump – Karen Hughes: u/18s Girls Pole Vault – Albhe Healy: u/16s Boys 200m – Kolade Abiodun; u/17s Boys High Jump – Gabhan O’Tighearnaigh; u/18s Boys Shot Putt – Oran O’Brien: u/19s Boys 200m – Sean Lawlor
Silver (10): u/16s Girls Long Jump – Lara O’Byrne: u/17s Girls 1500m – Lucy McCann (5.14.21): u/17s Girls Long Jump – Clodagh Read: u/17s Girls Shot Putt – Clodagh Read: u/17s Girls Triple Jump – Clodagh Read: u/18s Girls 200m – Karen Hughes: u/13s Boys Shot Putt – Rian Carey: u/16s Boys 1500m – Sekeriye Ahmed (4.41.73): under 17s Girls relay: under 17s Boys relay
Bronze (11): u/13s Girls Shot Putt – Peace Onakoya: u/16s Girls High Jump – Lucy Hurley: u/16s Girls Shot Putt – Martina Hughes: u/17s Girls Long Jump – Caoimhe Mackey: u/17s Girls 1500m – Eliza NiThighearnaigh (5.14.90): u/12s Boys 600m – Sean Kinsella: under 16s Girls relay: under 18s Girls relay: under 16s Boys relay: under 17s Boys relay: under 19s Boys relay
Under 18 Oran o brien 1st in shot putt
Under 19 Sean lawlor 1st 200
Relays
Under 16 girls 4×200 3rd
Under 17 girls 4x2002nd
Under 18 girls 4x2003rd
Under 16 boys 4x2003rd
Under 17 boys 4x2002nd
Under 19boys 4×200 3rdUnder 17 gabhan ni thighearnaigh 1st high jump
Under 18 Oran o brien 1st in shot putt
Under 19 Sean lawlor 1st 200
Relays
Under 16 girls 4×200 3rd
Under 17 girls 4x2002nd
Under 18 girls 4x2003rd
Under 16 boys 4x2003rd
Under 17 boys 4x2002nd
Under 19boys 4×200 3rd
Under 17 gabhan ni thighearnaigh 1st high jump
Under 18 Oran o brien 1st in shot putt
Under 19 Sean lawlor 1st 200
Relays
Under 16 girls 4×200 3rd
Under 17 girls 4x2002nd
Under 18 girls 4x2003rd
Under 16 boys 4x2003rd
Under 17 boys 4x2002nd
Under 19boys 4×200 3rd