With Storm Hannah out of the way, the sun came out for the junior and senior day of Leevale 2019. Athletes travelled from the length and breath of the country to compete in a full program of track and field events. This year we were delighted to have a strong contingent of Paralympic athletes competing at the sports.
Brendan O’Donnell travelled from Lifford Strabane AC to retain his hammer title, with a throw of 65.64m. Brendan was the recipient of the Brendan Coughlan perpetual trophy for throws.
On the track there were doubles for Ciara Neville (Emerald AC) and Ryan O’Leary (Leevale AC) in the women’s and men’s 100m & 200m events. In a star-studded field Ciara won the the 100m in 11.57 from Niamh Whelan 2nd and Joan Healy 3rd, while in the 200m she won in 23.85 from Joan Healy (Leevale AC) and Sarah Lavin (UCD AC). Ryan won the 100m in 10.81 from Basit Oyebanji (Tralee Hariers) and Dave McInerney (Leevale AC). Ryan was presented with the Bernard Walley perpetual trophy for the 100m win. He subsequently won the 200m in 22.15 from Robert Bennett (Nenagh Olympic) and Basit Oyebanji (Tralee Hariers).
Aimee Hayde (Newport AC) was the impressive winner in the women’s 800m, achieving the EYOF standard with a time of 2:09.99. Her club mate Sharlene Mawsley was the clear winner of the women 400m in 54.03. In the men’s 400m Shane Aherne (Leevale AC) ran a strong race to achieve a sub-50, 49.97.
The men’s 3000m turned into a classic with a group of five athletes in the reckoning until the final lap. Kevin O’Brien (East Cork AC), who led from the start, broke away to win in 8:54.20, from Eric Curran (Leevale AC) and Frank O’Brien (Midelton AC). Kevin was the recipient of the Liam Horgan perpetual trophy, which was presented by Liam’s daughter Lynda and grandchildren.
Sinead O’Connor won the women 3000m in 9:56.33.
Paralympic events were run in conjunction with the standard programme, with youth, junior, senior and para athletes all competing alongside each other.
A total of ten para-athletes competed with four of them achieving PB’s.
- Ray O’Dwyer Discus 28.05m (this was an Irish record in his F35 class)
- Shane Curran Discus 15.38m
- Steven Bradley Javelin 13.72m
- Jordan Lee High Jump 1.85m (outdoor pb for the Paralympic panellist)
Full results [updated 23:10, 27 Apr]
Track results
Field results
Para field results
