Athletes attending the national squad session put in some excellent work on Saturday in Tullamore. The rain held off despite threatening for most of the day.
National Throws Coordinator David Sweeney was delighted with the progress made by the athletes that have consistently attended national squads.

He said that “There has been a steady but very visible improvement over the winter from athletes that have attended national squads and other event clinics. These training days are a great opportunity for these athletes to train with their peers and receive good technical coaching. It was also heartening to see a number of coaches attending these sessions to observe.”

Sweeney was also delighted with some great early season marks, in particular Dempsey McGuigan who once again broke the Irish Junior record in the hammer with 70.02 (achieving a World Junior Championship qualifying mark with the 6kg implement) and Clare Fitzgerald who has reached 51.22m in the discus. (longest throw by an Irish woman in over 25 years)
The schools competitions are now kicking off as well as Graded Meets in Dublin and around the country and The AAI Games take place on May 20th. All these competitions should give us a picture of how successfully athletes have prepared over the winter.

Another excellent piece of news is that a motion was passed at AAI congress over the weekend that ‘The AAI Winter Throws Championships’ will become a permanent championship fixture on the calendar. This is great news for the throwing community.

Any athletes or coaches that have queries regarding National Throws squads please contact David Sweeney (National Throws Coordinator) at throws@athleticsireland.ie or Tel: +353-(87)-235 3079