National Indoor League Round 1 Reports
Thanks to the two track and field captains Leonie Newman and David Campbell for these reports. After round 1, the women’s team is in 3rd place and the men are in 4th in a close contest. This Saturday in Athlone will be the second round.
Our women’s team had a great start to the Indoor League in Abbotstown 2 weeks ago. Lara O’Byrne started us off with a third place in the 60m hurdles in 9.45 and then went on to finish 6th in the Long Jump. Aoife Lynch kicked of her indoor season with a second place finish in the 60m with Joan Healy winning, another second place was Ailbhe Healy in pole vault with a jump of 2.70. Louise Murray made her debut for the women’s team in the 800m a shorter distance than she’s used to running, finishing a fine 8th and gaining valuable points .Robyn O’Keeffe finished 7th in shot put. It was a great day for the team they finished in 3rd position when points were redone,
The Donore men have a great reputation in this competition having won bronze medals last year and they were keen to start strong. The first event of the day was the 60m hurdles and David Slupko showed huge dedication to his club Donore Harriers. Earlier in the morning David was in action on the rugby pitch where he played the first half of his match, came straight to Abbotstown and with a minimal warm up he pulled off a fantastic performance. David finished 4th in a time of 8.81 seconds amongst a high quality field where national u23 champion Matthew Behan took first place in 8.11 seconds. David is an excellent hurdler and his coaches are very excited to see him in action during the outdoor season.
Next up was the cool and confident character of Kolade Abiodun in the long jump. Having not trained in over 12 months, Kolade produced a superb jump of 6.36cm and took 2nd place overall. These points were a huge bonus for the club and it proves that with more training this year we will no doubt see plenty more impressive jumps from Kolade come outdoors.
Back to the track for the men’s 60m was Ben Iveagh. The field was loaded with Ireland’s top sprinters and Ben gained valuable points for the team finishing 5th in a time of 7.59 seconds. The race was won in a very swift 7.03 seconds by Clonliffe Harriers Leo Morgan and this was a great opportunity for Ben to get valuable race experience with senior athletes of the highest level. Ben has been in excellent form all winter and his coaches are looking forward to seeing him drop fast times this indoor season.
The final track event was the men’s 800m with Jack Raftery opening his indoor season. Last year Jack had a fantastic season running 49 seconds for 400m and 1.53 for 800m which highlights how talented this juvenile athlete is. Jack is only recently back from injury and the race was a great way to test his fitness. Finishing 3rd in a time of 2.01.25 behind the winner Cillian Kirwan of Raheny Shamrocks A.C who ran 1.56.16. Jack’s 3rd place scored crucial points for the team and he will no doubt improve his times as the indoor season progresses.
The last field event of the day was shot put with Alex Conway was in action. Over the past few years Alex has been a huge help with the national league squads and proved once again what a great asset he is to the club. Alex finished an excellent 3rd place throwing 9.59m and the competition was won by Rolus Olusa of Clonliffe Harriers who threw 11.01m.
The next round of the national league takes place on Saturday 26th January in Athlone I.T and we encourage all club members to come and support both the men and women in their efforts to bring home national medals. The men are currently in 4th place overall, just four points of 3rd position which means it’s all to play for in the next round. A big thank you to all the athletes, coaches and supporters who made round 1 such a success and we look forward to a stronger round 2 as we eye up medals for a 2nd consecutive year!
There is no final this year so it’s all to play for on Saturday best of luck to all . Don’t forget there is guest races on the day for anyone looking to get an indoor time . Supporters more than welcome.
National Junior Indoor Combined Events Title for Lara
On Saturday Lara O’Byrne added another national title to her tally which goes to show how she was awarded the Dublin Juvenile star for last year when she won the National Junior Indoor Combined Event in Athlone. Lara won all 5 disciplines and finished with some new personal bests too: 60m Hurdles (9.26), Long Jump (4.65), Shot Put (9.65, PB), High Jump (1.62) and 800m (2.27, PB).
John Travers gets 3000m qualifier time
Great news, John Travers has achieved the qualifying time for the European indoors athletics championship in Glasgow in early March. He was 3rd in the Cardiff Met Athletics/Non Thomas indoor meet in a time of 8.01.04, & only a second off 2nd; a few weeks ago he ran 2 seconds slower in Scotland. But this time he did the business in a race which was won in 7.55 by UK rising star Kieran Clements. Well done John, Glasgow beckons!