The Leinster indoor juvenile
relays took place at the Ait Arena last Saturday and with entries at record levels
the competition was fierce and the atmosphere was electric. We had 6 team’s competing
on the day u12, 13, 14, &15 girls and u13&14 boys. Our u13 girls took
to the track first in heat one of the u13 4 x 100m relay, unfortunately we were
only informed of a late change of rules minutes before the event commenced
which caused much confusion for all teams competing in the first heat, luckily
our girls still managed to qualify for the final finishing 2nd in a time of 58.4s.
The girls were much wiser for the final and showed true grit when they stormed
to victory from lane 2 in a new Leinster record of 55.92s, congratulations to
Lili O’ Connor, Emma O’ Connell, Aimee Doherty, Aoife Rutherford and Ella
Healy. Our u13 boys were up next and
they put in a great run to finish 2nd in their heat qualifying them
for the final, the lads finished 5th in the final after another good
run in what was a very competitive age group. Well done Oisin Kelly, Kyle
Witter, Tom Kilgannon and Brian Kiely.
Our u15 girls were impressive winners
of their heat with a solid run on the anchor leg by Maria Rogers qualifying
them easily for their final with still plenty in the tank. The girls came out
with all guns blazing in the final with a scintillating start from Aine Cooney
on the first leg, Ivie Okome put in a power run on the 2nd leg and
the battle was now on with Laurence O’ Toole’s for gold on the final 2 legs,
Emma Coroner and Lara Power pushed them all the way with the girls only narrowly
beaten in the end claiming silver.
The Even ages relays were on in
the afternoon, Our U12 girls team of Laura Kelly, Aimee Doherty, Eabha Toole
and Eno Okome put in a good performance in their heat finishing third missing
out on qualification. Our U14 girls were easy winners of their heat but
struggled in the final finishing 5th, a number of the girls doubled
up on the day and their earlier efforts caught up with them.
The u14 boy’s team were quietly confident
and they delivered on their promise with powerful running in their heat setting
the fastest qualification time. The final was no different Tom Kilgannon getting
the lads off to a great start, Matthew Buckley on the 2nd leg was
sensational eating up the ground to give his team a commanding lead heading into
the 3rd leg, Oisin Kelly consolidated the lead with a very solid run
handing over to the anchor man Ben Toole. Ben maintained the lead with a very
confident final leg crossing the line with a good 30m to spare over 2nd
place.
Congratulations to all of our
teams on some fine performances and best of luck to our three teams who have
qualified for Nationals on March 28th.
