The first day of the Munster U9 to U13 T&F championships were held in Ennis on Saturday 11th June. It was girls mostly who were in action and some very fine performances were had by Leevale athletes.
In the Girls U10 pairs, Áine Mullins and Julie Lankford impressed with 1st and 2nd placings in their respective sprint heats.
In the Girls U11 sprints, Chloe McCarthy and Kaitlyn Coffey finished 1st in their heats, winning the overall pair. Kaitlyn Coffey and Dearbhail Ní Dheasmhunaigh were placed 2nd and 3rd in their 600m heats, finishing 2nd in the overall pairing. There was further success when Saoirse O’Flynn and Chloe McCarthy finished 3rd overall in the long jump pair. Andrea Ring and Erin O’Mahony also had fine performances with top three placings in their sprint heats.
Chloe, Saoirse, Dearbhail and Kaitlyn finished off the day by winning their relay final.
Sunday, the second day of the championships, when the boys were in action, was cold and wet. Well done to all the parents who braved the elements and kept their athletes dry and warm in very challenging conditions.
In the boys U10 600m, the pairing of Eoghan Heaney and Tommy Connolly finished in gold medal position. Eoghan gave a spirited display of front running, leading from start to finish to win his 600m heat. Tommy put in an equally courageous display to finish 4th in a fast paced heat. There were also great results in the sprints with Shane Aherne winning his heat and Eoghan, Tommy and Rory O’Callaghan finishing in the upper half of theirs. In the U10 ball throw Luke Horgan and Shane Aherne came 1st.
In the U11 boys, Jamie O’Sullivan and Thomas White finished 2nd and 3rd in their respective heats to win gold in the overall pairing. Tyreik Wright and Cian Whooley came 3rd overall. In the 60m sprint, Tareik finished 1st as did Colin Doyle, Thomas White 2nd, and Jamie O’Sullivan 3rd. It was therefore somewhat surprising that at least one pair didn’t feature on the podium. However, Tareik, Jamie, Thomas and Cian went on to put their speed beyond doubt by winning gold in the relay.
The boys U12 also won their relay heat. Robert Cregan won his 60m heat and semi final in impressive form but had much ground to make up after a poor start in the final. Robert showed great determination to fight his way up to 3rd.
