AAI National Senior T&F Championships, Santry

Leevale athletes were in superb form at the National Track and Field Championships held in Santry Stadium over the weekend. Our women struck gold on a number of fronts. Beijing bound Derval O’Rourke won her 7th 100m hurdles title in 13.04. On Saturday Deirdre Murphy returned from the US to finish 2nd in the Discus where Sarah Bradfield finished in 3rd position. This was good enough to secure gold for the pair in the relay competition which was held in conjunction with the championships. Deirdre and Sarah teamed up again on Sunday to secure Gold in the 2x shot team event. Ailis McSweeney is really back to her best form and was in fighting form in the 100m final, securing the silver medal. Claire McSweeney has put her injury problems behind her and finished a very good 4th in the 400m final. Niam Cremin finished 6th in the 400m hurdles. Junior athlete, Louise McArdle, just missed out on qualification for the 400m final.

In the men’s programme indoor 60m champion Derek Duff had a well deserved double podium appearance with 2 superb bronze medals in the 100 and 200m. The former was won by Beijing bound Paul Hession. There was a blanket finish in the 200m and Derek finish 3rd in a new PB of 21.53. There was also a double podium finish for Pawel Hazler in the form of 2 silvers in both hammer and discus with a new PB of 54.96 in the hammer. In a slow run tactical 1500m Mark Hanrahan missed the break with about 500m to go, however he ran a superb last 300 metres and was just beaten for the gold by Clonliffe’s Colm Rooney. Juniors David Quilligan and Cathal Owens had their first taste of competition at National Senior outdoor level. David finished just outside the medals in 4th position in the long jump. Cathal ran superbly to qualify for the final of the 400m, where he finished 7th in a new PB of 49.75. The ever consistent Joe Nagle finished 6th in the shot.
Well done to all the athletes on what was a great day for the club. National Senior titles are not easy to win.

NOTE FROM CHAIRMAN
Unfortunately for the first time in several years I was unable to attend the Championships. However I watched the television coverage on RTÉ on Sunday and I must say I was really proud to see so many Leevale Athletes prominent in the events covered. Congratulation to all concerned. These performances augur well for next Sundays T&F League final in Tullamore

LEEVALE RESULTS:

Full results

Report from AAI website

100m final medallists, Derek Duff, Paul Hession, Darragh Graham