It’s been a long time coming! Jack Raftery could have been described as the ‘nearly man’ in juvenile athletics after a succession of 4th place finishes in 2017. However, he showed his potential with a bronze in the national under 17 Boys 400m final last July. It was a question of perseverance and hard work… On Sunday (18.03.2018) he had the confidence to front run the final of the National Indoor Under 18s Boys 400m at the Athlone Arena. Running from the outside lane he went through the 200m in 24 seconds and withheld the late challenges of Ciaran Carthy (50.42) of DSDAC and Cormac O’Rourke (50.47) of Lagan Valley AC to win his first individual national gold medal in a personal best time of 50.17.
The prolific Louis O’Loughlin chalked up his 15th national title by winning the 1500m. He made his intentions known from the gun by opening a huge lead through 400m, reached in 57 seconds. By the 800m (2.02) mark he had widened the gap on his pursuers but was visibly slowing obviously feeling the effects of the tough All-Ireland school’s race on the previous week. His 3rd 400m section of the race was run in 69 seconds. However, his sheer tenacity saw him home in a personal best time of 4.01.87, with Brian Maguire (4.06.06) of DSDAC and Jake Bagge (4.06.75) of Ferrybank AC next.
Multi-event athletes Lara O’Byrne and Max Carey both won silver medals despite not performing to their normal high standards. O’Byrne opened her Girls Under 19s Long Jump account with a 4.76m leap that put her into 2nd position. However, Laura Cunningham of Craughwell AC had subsequent jumps of 4.83m and 4.87m to relegate the Donore athlete to 3rd. But a final jump of 4.91m saw O’Byrne regain the silver medal position behind Vicki Cusack (5.16m) of Liscarrol AC. Max Carey had a best clearance of 3.40m to win the silver medal in the Under 19 Boys Pole Vault behind Ben O’Dwyer of Moycarkey Coolcroo AC.
Alex Leonard made it 5 medals for Donore Harriers on the first day of the championships. Leonard won his heat in the Under 12 Boys 60m in 8.70 seconds and was the 4th ranked athlete going into the final. He improved his time to 8.54 in a close final to win the bronze medal. His time was equal to Richard McGrath of Galway City, but the Donore athlete lost out on countback – being 5-hundredths of a second slower in heat time. Darragh Fahy of Loughrea AC won in 8.53. Abdel Laadjel (4.23.85) and Sekeriye Ahmed (4.15.74) both got personal bests and 6th positions in their respective finals of the Under 16 Boys and Under 19 Boys 1500m finals.
Isabella Kelly (8.78) placed 4th in her heat of the Under 13 Girls 60m, whilst Lucy Kirwan (8.44) was 5th in heat 2 of the Under 17 Girls 60m. Lucy Hurley (8.61) placed 4th in Heat 1 of the Under 19 Girls 60m. Sean Kinsella could not go higher than 1.45m in the final of the Under 15 Boys High Jump and was disappointed with 15th position.
Results
TRACK:
U/12 Boys 60m Final – 3rd Alex Leonard (8.54) bronze. Alex won qualifying Heat 2 in 8.70
U17 Girls 60m Heat – 5th Lucy Kirwan (8.44)
U/19 Girls 60m Heat – 4th Lucy Hurley (8.61)
U/13 Girls 60m Heat – 4th Isabella Kelly (8.78)
U/18 Boys 400m Final – 1st Jack Raftery (50.17 PB) gold. Jack won qualifying Heat 1 in 52.75; Daragh McAuley 4th in qualifying Heat 3 in 54.89
U/16 Boys 1500m Final – 6th Abdel Laadjel (4.23.85 PB)
U/18 Boys 1500m Final – 1st Louis O’Loughlin (4.01.87 PB) gold. Louis won qualifying Heat 1 in 4.27.05
U/19 Boys 1500m Final – 6th Sekeriye Ahmed (4.15.74 PB)
FIELD:
U/15 Boys High Jump Final – 15th Sean Kinsella (1.45m)
U/19 Girls Long Jump Final – 2nd Lara O’Byrne (4.91m) silver
U/19 Boys Pole Vault Final – 2nd Max Carey (3.40m) silver