Ahead of the final tomorrow. Here is a long delayed report on the 2nd round of the national league and some of the other track fixtures in the past weeks!
I’ll do the road separately.
On August 7th for the first time in the club’s history, the men’s and women’s teams have reached the national track and field league final in Tullamore.
The teams secured their passage to the final in the second round of the league on a glorious day on the Mary Peters Track in Belfast on July 17th.
The ladies team had their best ever performance in the history of this event topping the pool in Belfast which has never happened. This was made possible by a super collective effort and high points in a number of events with only one event not covered. Lara O’Byrne won the 100mH and the pole Vault. Maximum points were also achieved by Lynda Tcheudji in the triple jump and the 4x100m team (Lynda, Andie Maguire, Robyn Okeeffe, Suzi) won their event with ease. There were impressive 2nd place finishes by Lynda again in the 100m, Caoimhe Mackey in the 400mH and Anne Gormley in the 1500k walk. In the throws and jumps we were strong throughout with the versatile Lara 3rd in the high jump, Clodagh Read was 2nd in the discus and 3rd in the hammer. Lauren O’keeffe was 4th in the shot and 6th in javelin. Andie Maguire was a late callup for the long jump and did really well to come 4th. Sinead Lambe had a great race in the 800m finishing 2nd and Karla Doran came 3rd in a competitive 1500m. With Suzi OFarrell 5th in the 200m and Maura Kearns 6th in the 400m, the last track event was the 4x400m and this was the true marker of how far this team has come. Traditionally this was an event in which we often finished a distant last but this time our team (Caoimhe, Clodagh Martin, Maura, Sinead) were a brilliant 2nd.
112 points was the total, and combined with the first round points was more than enough to reach the division 1 final.
The men’s team were missing many key people on the day but thankfully the team did enough to qualify for the Final. One of the key partipants was multieventer Rolus Olusa who was 2nd in the 110mH, 4th in the 400mH and 4th in the triple jump. Eamonn Fahey too gained valuable points with his 3rd in the 200m and 2nd in the 100m. There was an excellent 2nd place in the 4x100m relay and 3rd in the 4x400m. After some fouls, Kolade Abidoun had a super final jump of 6.05 to get 3rd in that event. Jako Oosthuizen gained valuable points by winning the 56lb weight event and coming 3rd in the javelin. Alex Kelly was 4th in the discus and 5th in the hammer and also bravely filled in for the 1500m when we were missing out runner on the day. Sam Allen came 5th in the 5000m and master runner Donal Iremonger was 7th in a tough 800m and David Campbell 7th in the 400m. Max Carey did very well for 5th place in the pole vault, not his usual event. There was an anxious wait over the next 24 hours as the points were totted up from both pools, thankfully the 92 points added to the first round total got the men through.
Thanks to Leonie Newman for all the coordination of the team, David Campbell too, all the coaches and Iain Morrison also for the informal awards handed out on the journey home!
Elsewhere on the track, the Morton Games, IMC and 3 graded meets saw the track season reaching its final stages.
John Travers finished 5th in the Albie Thomas 3000m at the Morton Games in 8.02.25. Eric Keogh had an excellent run in the 1500m IMC v BMC Race at the games where he finished 2nd in 3.47.08. A week earlier he ran 3.48.65 at the BMC meet in Watford. Eamonn Fahey reached the 100m final and got a time of 10.98.
Other notable performances on the track over the past few weeks were in the Dublin graded 6 meet where 8 Donore men competed in the 5000m events. First home was a back on form Mark Dooley in 15.20.67. Lauren Okeeffe topped the hammer event in the graded 7 meet and in the 8th and final graded meet, Ide Nic Dhomhnaill won the ladies 3000m in 10.40.58
Full results of IMC And graded meets as follows
Graded 6
800mA Darragh Fitzgibbon 2.00.93 5th
800mC Kevin nolan 2.11.94 2nd
800mD Michael Rickard 2.12.53 4th
5000m C Joe Murphy 19.24.9-
Terry mee 22.36.28
5000m A Mark Dooley 15.20.67
Michael McMahon 15.23.63
John Dunne 15.37.51
Rossa Hurley 16.16.06
Eoin Hannon 16.40.80
Sean fox 16.51.12
Graded 7
200mC Sean OBroinn 26.27 5th
800mA Sinead Lambe 2.25.01 7th
800mB Karla doran 2.27.41 1st
1 mile Luke Boland 4.48.76
Hammer women
Lauren Okeeffe 58.26 1st
Clodagh read 41.36
Orlaith read 32.5
Men
Ian Darroch 43.25
Graded 8
100m Suzi OFarrell 1st 13.8
Robyn Okeeffe 2nd 14.18
400mC Donal Iremonger 59.27 3rd
3000m Ide nicdhomhnaill 10.40.58 winner
3000m men Sam Allen 8th 9.21.92
Luke Boland 9.41.21 12th
George Brady 9.54.58 17th
3000mC Kevin Nolan 2nd 10.10.86
Discus Oran obrien 29.33 2nd
Shot put 9.91
Womens shot Faith Hopkins 6.28
le cheile international meet Leixlip
Long jump Rolus Olusa 6.71 2nd
200mC Adam Halpin 23.89
David Campbell 24.33
3000m Mark Dooley 8.54.25 9th
Luke Boland 9.25.88