The Capri-Sun All Ireland BLOE track and field championships were held in Tullamore on Saturday and Sunday. Some of the best races came in the under-18 age group. The boys 800m was a great race from a Cork point of view, with the Togher pair of Shane O’Shaughnessy and Martin Byrne controlling the race from the gun. With 250m to go they had broken away from the rest of the field, with O’Shaughnessy leading into the home straight, all the time pressed by Byrne, whose effort just failed to catch his clubmate. Louise Murphy of Leevale ran a tremendous race in the under-16 1,500m. Taking the lead from the gun she had just one of her 16 opponents with her with half a lap to go. They battled together down to the finish line with Louise losing by the smallest of margins. The under-17 1,500m was just as exciting with Martina Hickey of West Muskerry running the exact same type of race. On this occasion it was the Cork girl who kept in front, winning by the smallest of margins. She earlier won the 800m unchallenged. Ger O’Donoghue of Leevale had an impressive double in the under-18 100m and 200m, while Tony Lilley of Togher won the under-18 400m in similar style. The under-17 high jump saw Barry O’Brien of Leevale clear all heights up to 1.90m impressively. However, he increased his approach speed for his first attempt at 1.93m and got no where near to clearing it. His earlier efforts were enough to give him victory though.