Thursday, August 30, 2012

Competition Timetable for International Throws Event in Templemore

International Throws Festival – Templemore, Co Tipperary
Saturday, 1st September 2012
Teams:
Men: Ireland, Switzerland, Iceland, Leinster, Munster, Connaught
Women: Ireland, Switzerland, Wales, Leinster, Munster, Connaught

COMPETITION TIMETABLE
11.30​​Team Parades from Town to track

12.00​​Javelin (M)
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12.45​​Shot Put (M)​​​Discus (W)
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13.00​​800m (M)

13.25​​1 Mile (M & W)​​

13.50​​Hammer (M)

14.55​​​​​​Hammer (W)​
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15.20​​​​​​Shot Put (W)

15.55​​​​​​Javelin (W)​​

16.05​​Discus (M)
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17.00​​Throws Coaching Clinic
Javelin (Terry McHugh) & Rotational Shot Put (Petur Gudmundsson)

19.30​​Finish

Local athletics fans will be thrilled that strong teams will represent each country, including some athletes who competed at the London Olympic Games. As well as Ireland’s leading athletes, leading international athletes are likely to be Ásdís Hjálmsdóttir – Iceland (62.77m, Javelin - Women), Carys Parry – Wales (66.31m – Hammer – Women), Óðinn Björn Þorsteinsson - Iceland (19.80m, Shot Put - Men), Martin Bingisser – Switzerland (67.90m, Hammer - Men), Örn Davíðsson – Iceland (71.50m, Javelin - Men), Lukas Wieland – Switzerland (65.17m, Javelin – Men).

Athletics Ireland would encourage all Irish throwing fans, athletes and coaches to get to Templemore and support all these Irish and International athletes and give them a great welcome.

COACHING CLINIC
Terry McHugh, Ireland’s javelin record holder only ever Olympic Javelin thrower and now Swiss National coach will give a short clinic about his views on what makes a javelin go far. He will have some of Ireland’s leading juniors as his training group. Terry is really looking forward to doing this event in Templemore as he is a native of Ballingarry village in Co. Tipperary. This is a rare opportunity for Irish coaches and athletes to listen to Ireland’s 6 time Olympian.

Icelandic coach Peter Gudmundsson will also give a clinic on Rotational Shot Put. Petur is an authority on this event, having competed for many years at international level. Petur was a medallist in the World Indoor Championships and has a personal best of 21.26m. Petur also holds the world record in the Highland games event of throwing the Braemar stone. Despite the fact that the Rotational style is the most common at World and European championship level, Irish throwers have been reluctant to throw the rotational style mainly due to the small number of coaches that promote the event. This is a great opportunity to learn from one of the best in the game.

Tuesday, August 28, 2012

Race report - Frank Duffy 10mile/16k in the park

This was the third of four races in the Dublin Marathon Race series, and was held in the Phoenix Park with 6,000 runners attending. The weather the day before wasn't great, but thankfully on the day the rain held off and it wasn't too hot either, just right for running.
We had various club members take part, each with different goals. A group of us met up in wave 1, for those aiming for under 80mins, and got chatting before the start.
I kept myself held back for the first 2k or so until I found a happy pace, one that I could keep for the distance. I knew the hills came at around 10k, so I wanted to keep something in the tank until then. The first water station was at about 4k in, but only on one side of the road. I grabbed a cup and didn't slow my pace much and only took a couple of small sips of water.
From 6.5 to 9.5k we were running along the main road through the park, Chesterfield Avenue, which is reasonably flat. Then we turned right and went downhill followed by the first real hill at 10.5k. I dropped my pace a bit, but kept the cadence up and pumped the arms to keep me moving, which definitely helped.
At around 11.5k we had the second (and last) water station, just before more hills. I decided to take a cup and walk to get as much in as I could and started back attacking the hills again. Just past the 14k mark I knew we were past all the hills and didn't have much left in the race. I knew there were just two right hand corners left (memorizing the course route beforehand is a big help!), and I knew the distance left (thanks to my garmin), so I treated it as a progression run. I didn't want to get over the line and be full of energy, I wanted to put in as much of myself as I could.
I managed to get over the finish line in 1:16:59 (chip time) and chatted to Neal while others finished and joined us. All in all it was a great race, well organized and a better route than last year. Time to get more training in for the Dublin Half Marathon in three weeks!








All photos courtesy of Neal

Sunday, August 26, 2012

Community Games Success for Ratoath at National Finals

Ratoath Athletic Club members enjoyed great success at the National Community Games finals held in Athlone at the weekend. Ratoath had 3 relay teams representing their County, the boys U12 team consisting of Fergal Kilgannon, Tadgh McCann, James McCann, Jack Flynn and Aaron O’ Neil, the Girls U 12 team consisting of Emma Coroner, Aine Cooney, Rachel McPartlin and Ivie Okome and the U14 boys team comprising of Stephen Shaw, Peter Kilgannon, Joseph Doyle and Evan Donnelly. The relay heats were held on Saturday morning and both the girls U12 and boys U 14 team qualified for the semi finals, the boys U12 team missed out on qualification but had a good run.  The semi finals were held on Saturday afternoon and both teams put in good performances missing out narrowly on qualifying for the final, the boys ran a pb of 55.4s and the girls ran a pb of 60.7s.
In the individual events, Ivie Okome had a very busy weekend, running in the heat’s of her U12 100m on Saturday as well as two runs with her relay team, Ivie qualified comfortably from her heat on Saturday morning finishing first, she then ran her semi final on Sunday morning where she finished third and qualified for the final in the afternoon.  Ivie put in a storming performance in the final winning her first National medal finishing in fourth position in a time of 14.3S just 3 tents of a second behind the winner. This was a tremendous performance from Ivie seeing that she is still in this age category next year.
Peter Kilgannon and Ciaran McCarty competed in the Boys U14 800m and Boys U16 1500m respectively, both athletes qualified comfortably from their heats on Saturday for Sundays Final. Ciaran ran a great race in the final and was unlucky to finish outside the medals, finishing 6th, but he has to be happy with his time of 4:41s which is a massive improvement on his pre Season pb, he has taken over 20 seconds off his 1500m time this year and has improved steadily after taking up Athletics only 2 years ago.  Peter Kilgannon was another athlete who had a busy programme, running twice in the relay as well as the heat of his 800m on Saturday. Peter ran the race of his life in the final of the 800m finishing fourth earning another National medal to add to his collection. Peter ran a time of 2:13 in the final, another pb for him, taking over 10 seconds off his pre Season time. Both Ciaran and Peter have to be commended for their commitment to their training over the Summer and it is great to see their hard work paying off.
Congratulations to all of the Athletes from the club and Parish who took part at the weekend and special thanks to their parents for making the trip down to Athlone.


Friday, August 24, 2012

Great Race in Tara tonight.

Tara AC yet again hosted a great 5km Road Race and Fun Run tonight. The rain held off making lovely conditions for the run. Fast downhill start followed by a climb up to Skryne until just after the 2km point then mostly downhill or flat until the final 70-80m of climb to the finish. Ouch!
Well organised, great atmosphere, well done to all the organisers and volunteers.
Really looking forward to our own run on the 16th Sept.

Link for registering for our 5km Road Race. Looking forward to seeing you there.

http://precisiontiming.primo-solutions.co.uk/ps/event/Ratoath5km

Saturday, August 18, 2012

Ratoath Master Peter Doherty in All Ireland Masters

Congratulations to Ratoath AC Master Sprinter and Coach Peter Doherty who came 2nd in the 100m in a time of 11.86sec and 3rd in the 200m in a time of 24.29s while running in lane 8 in the All Ireland Masters Championships held in Tullamore today. Both great results and times justifying all the hard work he has put into his training this year. I know he's already got his plan in place to attack the indoor season next spring and we're looking forward to seeing him getting even stronger and faster.

Monday, August 13, 2012

Fit4Life Group Training

Monday 13th - Training is on TONIGHT Monday at the Track at 7pm with AnneMarie.

Tuesday 14th August at Hill of Tara …. Meet at track at 6pm or starting training at Hill of Tara at 6.30pm (sharp)

Intermediate Level or Advanced Level Only….

(You should be able to comfortably do a 5k run without stopping before attempting this training session)

Please ensure you have a training partner at the same level who can run with you as parts of this run are quite secluded and we do not recommend anyone running on their own.

Group 1: 7.30-8.30 min/mile (4:40 to 5:15 min/k) pace runners

Group 2: 9-10.00 min/mile (5:35 to 6:10 min/k pace runners

Each lap 2.1 miles approx.

Fit4Life Group: Track open at 7.30pm for use if you wish to use it. No coaches available however please do not hesitate to contact Siobheal 0868540550 if you wish to discuss training plan

Thursday 16th August at Track (6pm sharp) €2 subs required once per week (no matter how many times you use track)

If you forgot last week please bring €4 this week (Thanks)

Speed Session Track open for use for Fit4Life Group jogging/walking

Sunday, August 5, 2012

Results from All Ireland Development Championships

Peter Kilgannon came third in All Ireland Development Championships in a time of 2:18 for U15 800m and Ciaran McCarty won in 2:15 U16 800m.
Congratulations to them both.

No training Today Sunday 5th Aug due athletes competing.

No training today but it will be back on Tues 7:30 at the track for Cross Country Training.

Friday, August 3, 2012

Cross Country Training for Juveniles

Cross Country season starts end of September and to be ready for it athletes need to prepare. There will be 3 45min sessions each week for the month of August Tuesday at 7:30pm at the track, Friday 7:00pm at Fairyhouse and back at the track on Sundays at 12:00pm. Note parking very tight on Fridays outside fairyhouse.
These sessions are run by Gerry who is our most experienced and qualified coach assisted by Peter and Tom.
Distances are planned to decrease this year for the younger age groups likely to be (not confirmed)
U9 750m
U10 1000m
U11 1200m
U12 1500m
U13 2000m
U14 2500m
U15 3000m
As the ages get older I'm less sure of what the final decisions were but will update them later.

As you can see for our young athletes to run these distances safely they need to put in at least 3 days training.
So while the general training is over for the month of August there are still sessions there for your young athlete to train in.