Junior Men 110m Hurdles
At the GloHealth Junior & U23 Championships, CIT, Cork the Junior Men’s 110m Hurdles produced the race of the day with Sam Healy (Leevale A.C.) winning in 14.11 from Matthew Behan (Crusaders A.C.) in 14.12. Both athletes were inside the B qualification standard of 14.24 for the World Junior Track and Field Championships which take place in Oregon, USA in July. Healy was within two hundredths of the standard at the Irish Schools Championships in May and the Munster Juvenile Track and Field Championships last weekend running 14.26.
Helay said: “I’m delighted with the win, I’m disappointed not to get the A standard, but it was a great race, Matthew was ahead of me the whole way, I just caught him on the last hurdle.” Healy also took the Long Jump title with a leap of 6.71m.
Sprint Events
In the Junior Women’s 200m Cliona Manning (Kilkenny City Harriers) ran her second World Junior B standard of 24.50 to win in a personal best of 24.21. There was perfect conditions in the Junior Girls 100m with Megan Marrs (City of Lisburn AC) winning in a personal best of 11.82 from Sarah Kate Lacey (Kilkenny City Harriers A.C) also in a personal best of 12.03. Marrs completed the double winning the sprint hurdlers in 14.42.
With Irish junior 100m and 200m Record holder Marcus Lawler (St Laurence O’Toole) not competing for precautionary reasons due to a slight niggle the 100m title went to Keith Doherty (Tallaght AC) in a new personal best of 10.82 (+1.4) improving on his previous best of 10.97. While Zak Irwin (Sligo AC) won the 200m in 21.42 (+3.4).
Phil Healy (Bandon AC) was the standout performer in the U23 sprint events completing the double winning the 100m in 11.64, one of her fastest ever times f 11.64 from Catherine McManus (DCH AC) in 11.79. In the 200m Healy ran 23.95 equalling her personal best.
Junior 800m
In the Junior Women’s 800m there was a real battle for places with three athletes having hit the necessary World Junior standards and only two places available on the team. Siofra Cléirigh Buttner (Dundrum South Dublin A.C) took the honours in 2:10.46 from Alanna Lally (Galway City Harriers A.C) 2:10.70 who battled hard down the home straight in an effort to overtake Cléirigh Buttner. The DSD athlete held off Lally to confidently cross the line with Aislinn Crossey (Newry AC) third in 2:11.27.
Cléirigh Buttner said “ I’m delighted with that win, I didn’t force the race, I just came from the middle of the race and used my speed over the last 200 meters".
The Junior Men’s 800m race was a similar tactical race with all athletes bunched together until 300m to go when Robert Tully made a move closely followed by Karl Griffin who lifted another gear to overtake Tully to take the title.
Field Events
In the field events there was a double for the McGuigan brothers in the Hammer with Fellan taking the Junior title throwing 63.49 (6.2kg) and Dempsey taking the U23 title with a throw of 64.47 (7.2kg). David Cussen (Old Abbey AC) won the Junior High Jump in 2.12m
Please note: Qualification Standard for World Juniors: Any eligible athlete who achieves an “A” or multiple (more than two) “B” Performance Standard(s) within the Qualifying Period for the particular event will be considered for selection
