GloHealth Junior and U23 Championships Preview

Young stars set to descend on Tullamore

The GloHealth National Junior and U23 Track and Field Championships sees Ireland’s best up-and-coming athletes on show in Tullamore tomorrow (July 2nd).

A number of athletes will be looking to seal selection for the European Youth Championships and World Junior Athletics Championships but for the majority it will be about shining on the national stage in the first major competition of July. Link to list of entries post HERE. Link to fixtures for timetable HERE 

In the sprints junior athletes will be aiming to make relay teams. In the junior men’s 100m Tallaght duo Joseph Ojewumi and Eoin Doherty will take on the likes of Sean Lawlor (Donore Harriers) and Cillin Greene (Galway City Harriers).

Among the listed athletes in the junior women’s 100m are Ciara Neville (Emerald), Molly Scott (SLOT) and Janine Boyle (Finn Valley) to name but three of the contenders.

Phil Healy (Bandon), bound for the European Championships next week, is listed in the women’s U23 100m while Kieran Elliot (North Sligo), Eanna Madden (Carrick on Shannon) and Andrew Mellon (North Down/Queens) are among those listed for the U23 100m.

Sharlene Mawdsley (Newport) has been in impressive form this season and she is listed on the junior women’s 200m entries while in the one lap event  Jenna Bromell (Emerald) and Mollie O’Reilly (DSD) are down to compete. O’Reilly will be hoping Bromell can drag her to an all-important second World junior B qualifier.

Elizabeth Morland (Cushinstown)is another to have caught the headlines this season and is listed for a number of events including the junior women’s 200m. Morland won the 100m hurdles at the Cork City Sports and will compete in the Heptathlon at the world juniors in Poland in July.

The junior women’s 800m promises to be an exciting race with Carla Sweeney (WSAF), Rose Finnegan (Bohermeen) and Louise Shanahan (Leevale) among the listed athletes. Sweeney has her spot booked for the world juniors but both Finnegean and Shanahan need another B standard – it is sure to be a fast race.

Aaron McGlynn (Finn Valley) and Kevin McGrath (Bohermeen) are among those listed in a high quality junior men’s 800m with Harry Purcell (Trim) the lead entry in the U23 section.

Michaela Walsh (Swinford)has been in record-breaking form in the shot put with a new national junior record of 15.15m and the national senior silver medallist is red hot favourite for gold. Finn Valley brothers, James and John, will be leading competitors in the respective junior men’s and U23 men’s shot put.

The friendly rivalry between Adam King (Iveragh) and Owen Russell (St. Andrew’s)is set to be rekindled in the junior men’s  hammer. King got the better of Russell at the junior international in Mannheim last weekend but Russell is the national junior record holder with his throw of 71.20m this year.

In the jumps some of the leading contenders will be Keith Marks (Clonliffe Harriers) in the junior men’s long, Shane Howard (Bandon) in the U23s long jump and Sarah McCarthy (Mid Sutton) in the U23 women’s long jump.

Saragh Buggy set a championship best performance of 12.96m in the triple jump at the national seniors last weekend and she will be the favourite in the U23 section.

Action gets underway from 10:30am and there will be extensive coverage on social media.