Monday, July 27, 2015

Ratoath AC win the mile relay challenge at Morton Games

Great night of Athletics in Santry Stadium on Friday evening at the Morton Games. With Ratoath AC Juveniles winning the mile 16 X 100mtr relay challenge!! They ran a superb race leading from the gun to the finish line in a time of 3:34'  they got a great thrill out of running in Morton stadium on a night with such talent on show. Well done to all, some of them even got to meet Yohan 'The Beast' Blake



                                                               


















Tuesday, July 21, 2015

National Sprint Relay Finals

 
The National Sprint Relays were held in Tullamore Harriers last Saturday and we were very well represented with 5 teams competing, as usual at this level the competition was fierce resulting in a large number of new championship records set on the day in the various age groups. Our un-even age teams were up first and our u13girls and 15 boys qualified for the finals with ease, our much fancied u15 girls team of Aine Cooney, Ivie Okome, Maria Rogers, Rachel McPartland and Emma Coroner were not at full strength due to injury and did not make it out of the heats. The u13 girls were in great form and put in a faultless display of baton changing in their final to take silver in a new pb of 54.71s, great credit to the girls who have now claimed their 5th National relay medal since 2013, congratulations to Lili O’ Connor, Ella Healy, Aoife Rutherford and Aimee Doherty.
Lady luck was not with our u15 boys, after a great start in the final the lads had a 15m lead coming into the last changeover but unfortunately the baton was dropped and their race was over, a great performance all the same and the future looks bright for this team, well done to Matthew Buckley, Luke Holohan, Ben Toole and Daragh Casey.
 

The even-age relays took place in the afternoon, our u14 girls did not make it to the line due to injury leaving it to the u14 boys to carry the flag. Our u14 boys team of Tom Kilgannon, Matthew Buckley, Oisin Kelly and Ben Toole got off to a very shaky start finishing 3rd in their heat but they put that behind them in the final running a new pb of 51.74s. The lads were desperately unlucky to finish 4th, but again this team has improved year on year and it’s only a matter of time before they will be on the podium.


Sunday, July 19, 2015

Alex Does it Again

Alex Hunter, representing Meath in the National League, broke yet another club senior record when he recorded 10 min 28 sec for the 3,000m steeplechase. Alex is currently based in Sligo where his training is geared towards the trials to pick the Irish team for the British and Irish mountain running championships in late August.


First International for Philip Marron

Philip Marron made his international debut in Glasgow over the weekend when he finished 7th in the 1500m steeplechase. Philip, by his own high standards was a little disappointed with his run but he has had an outstanding track season in which he broke his PB almost every time he ran. Indeed, the following day after flying back from Glasgow, he represented Meath in the National League and
 ran another PB of 1 min 59.82 sec in the 800m.


Friday, July 17, 2015

Conway's Spar/Ratoath AC Couch to 5k

Conway's Spar in association with Ratoath AC present a couch to 5k plan to get you to the start of the clubs annual road race which takes place at 11:00am on Sunday 13th September.

The 7 week programme is open to adults & older teenagers and caters for all levels of fitness ranging from walkers to those wishing to improve their 5k times. The training plans consists of 3 weekly sessions one of which will be a coached session which will take place every Monday evening from 8-9pm on the Athletics track in Jamestown.

The cost of the 7 week plan plus race entry is €20 (race entry is €15)

7 week plans commence Monday 27th July on the athletics track in Jamestown

Registration takes place in Conway's Spar next Wednesday evening July 22nd from 8-9pm





Wednesday, July 15, 2015

Dublin Graded Meeting 15 July

Ratoath A/C had 5 athletes competing in the Dublin graded meeting tonight at the Morton Stadium. Conditions were perfect and there were some top class performances over the evening


Siobheal Murray started proceedings in the high jump. Despite being hampered by a slight cramp in her foot, Siobheal cleared 1.40m and only narrowly failed at 1.45m. Brian Kiernan and Ciaran McCarthy both ran the 400m and recorded times of  52.4 sec and 53.08 sec, respectively demonstrating the strength in  depth of 400m talent in the club at the moment. Ciaran Crowther and Philip Marron were also in fine form and both ran new PB's in the 1500m. Ciaran posted 4 min 26.4 while Philip ran 4 min 09.9 sec.

Excellent performances all round









Monday, July 13, 2015

National Juvenile Championships - Day 2 / 3

Matthew Buckley had a weekend to remember as he won two national u 14 titles with some superb running in Tullamore at the national juvenile championships. On Saturday he won the 80m in 9.49 sec. Unfortunately, the wind was over the official limit but it was mighty impressive running nevertheless. He was back again on Sunday and dominated his 200m race to win in 24.47 sec after previously posting 24.37 in the heats.

Emma Coroner was another to catch the eye as she ran 10.56 sec in the heats of the u 14 80m and then went on to finish 6th in the final clocking 10.70. Emma continues to improve with every season and is definitely one to watch for the future.  Daragh Casey was 10th in the u 15 long jump with a best of 4.74m and is also an athlete that is developing very nicely.

Brian Kiernan produced his trademark late surge to win his heat of the u 17 boys 400m in 52.65 sec but two hours later,  in a very tight finish he was edged out of the medals and finished 5th. Overall, however, this has been a significant breakthough year for Brian and he is already looking foward to running even faster next year.

Philip Marron was 7th in the u 18 3,000m in a new PB of 9 min 13.20 sec and we wish him the best next weekend when he makes his international debut competing in the 1500m steeplechase in Glasgow.





Monday, July 6, 2015

New Club Record for 400m Relay Squad

The quartet of Ciaran McCarthy, Philip Marron, Ciaran Crowther and Brian Kiernan broke the club junior & senior 4 x 400m relay record by over 2 seconds, running 3 min 34.8 sec, when competing in the national junior championhships at Tullamore on 5th July. Unfortunately, they finished just out of the medals in fourth but as the bulk of the squad have two more years in this age category, their day will surely come.



Saturday, July 4, 2015

All Ireland Pairs



The All Ireland pairs took place last weekend in Tullamore, our younger athletes from u9-11 put in some terrific performances on both track and field.  Our u9 boys who had a tough Leinster qualification came out with all guns blazing, James Kelly and Gavin Witter both jumping  pb’s in the long jump to take home gold and a first ever National gold for the club at u9 level, James was also paired up with Fionn Heffernan in the 300m and both lads ran out of their skin to finish second and claim another National medal. Gavin Witter and Charlie O’ Connor were unlucky not to medal in the turbo javelin and all four plus Harry Bogan put in a great performance in the 4 x 100m relay to finish 5th. Our u10 girls team of Caoimhe Fitzsimons and Ciara Coroner both performed well in the u10 long jump and 500m but finished outside the medals. With Sophie Quinn missing through injury Niamh Murray and Laura Kelly paired up for the u11 long jump with Laura also pairing up with Aishling Strafford in the u11 600m, the girls all jumped and ran well and were not far off medals on the day, the girls were joined by Aobh Forde for the sprint relay and were unlucky not to make the final.





National Juvenile T & F Championships - Day 1

Lili O'Connor got the club off to a great start today on day 1 of the national juvenile track and field championships when she won the girls u 13 60mH in Tullamore. Her winning time of 9.66 sec is a new club senior record and is due reward for all the hard work she has put in this season particularly on her hurdling technique. Matthew Buckley was next up and he took the silver in the u 14 boys 75mH (11.50 sec).  Matthew's two more favoured events  are the  80m and 200m and we expect to see some more fireworks when he toes the line for these next weekend.


Alex Hunter, just back from representing Ireland at the youth mountain running championships in Bulgaria, showed no ill effects from his travels as he smashed the club senior 2k steeplechase record when finishing second in 6 min 35.51 sec