Juvenile stars set to conclude Irish Indoor season
The future stars of Irish athletics return to action this weekend in TUS Athlone for the concluding days of the 123.ie National Juvenile Indoor Championships (April 5th and 6th).
Over 2000 young athletes will represent their clubs from all four corners of the country across an exciting two days of competition with the action being live streamed on the Athletics Ireland YouTube channel from 10am each day.
Star-Studded Saturday: Day 2 – April 6th
The first finals on Saturday will get underway in the field events with the Long Jump, High Jump and Shot Put competitions set for a 10am start.
The Girls U18 and U19 Long Jump competitions have the potential to be very exciting. Clubmates Tara O’Connor and Enya Silkena (Dundalk St. Gerald’s AC) will be vying for U18 honours, while Okwu Backari (Leevale AC) and Leagh Moloney (Doneen AC) could go head-to-head in their bids to take the U19 title.
The aforementioned O’Connor and Siun Quinn (Brothers Pearse AC) will battle it out in the U18 High Jump. At the 123.ie National U20 Championships in January, Quinn took an impressive gold clearing 1.76m, while at the end of that month O’Connor cleared 1.77m at the National Combined Event Championships.
The Boys Pole Vault will take centre stage in the field later in the afternoon. St. Laurence O’Toole duo Jamie Hyland (U17) and Lee Prendergast (U19) will be hoping to continue their excellent indoor seasons by claiming their respective national titles.
400m heats get the track action underway before all eyes turn to the finals of the 1500m.
Oisin McGloin (Lagan Valley AC) and Darragh Mulrooney (Moy Valley AC) are two to watch in the Boys U19 final, while Aimee Wallace (Mullingar Harriers AC) and Lucy Foster (Willowfield Harriers) look to be in contention to take the Girls U19 title.
Two athletes who have won multiple national titles throughout the years Clodagh Gill (Moy Valley AC) and Caolan McFadden (Cranford AC) will surely prove tough to beat in the Girls and Boys U18 races respectively.
The Boys Walks will follow the 1500m finals. Matthew Newell (Tuam AC) is the standout athlete in the U17 race, while Seamus Clarke (Moy Valley AC) goes in the U18 race fresh off his selection to represent Ireland over 10km at the World Race Walking Team Championships later this month in Antalya, Turkey.
The next track finals will be over two laps, as some of Ireland’s top young talents in the 400m look to win national medals.
Some of the names to watch should they progress from the heats are Ethan Dewhirst (Tír Chonaill AC – U18 Boys), Maria Zakharenko (Kilcoole AC – U18 Girls), Sean Doggett (Athenry AC – U19 Boys) and Hollie Kilroe (Suck Valley AC – U19 Girls).
Attention will then turn to the Girls Race Walks with National U20 Champion Savanagh O’Callaghan (Tuam AC) the lead entrant in the U17 event. Aoife Tuthill (Bandon AC) will be hoping to build on her third place finish at the National U20 Championships as she goes for U19 gold.
The final track events of Day Two of the Championships will be the 60m finals.
The last two races of the day will be the Girls and Boys U19 finals which will ultimately draw plenty of interest.
Leila Colfer (St. Laurence O’Toole AC) and Fatima Amusan (Leevale AC) look likely to face off for the Girls title, while Jamie Moffatt (North Down AC), Jesse Osas (Ratoath AC) and Toby Thompson (Ballymena and Antrim AC) all have the potential to get amongst the medals in the Boys event should they navigate the heats.
Super Sunday: Day 3 – April 7th
The final day of the Irish indoor season gets underway at 10am with multiple Field Event finals down for decision.
Michael Kent (D.M.P AC) finished fourth at the National Senior Championships in the Long Jump in February and he will have his eyes firmly set on making the top of the Boys U18 podium on Sunday. Ryan Onoh (Leevale A.C.) appears to be the favourite in the Boys U17 competition.
In the High Jump, Galway athlete Conor Penney (Craughwell AC) will be tough to beat in the Boys U17 event should he be anywhere near his best.
All three national senior indoor medallists in the Women’s Pole Vault will be in action in Athlone on Sunday. Gold medal winner that day Kara Morrissey (St. Laurence O’Toole AC) leads the entries for the Girls U18 competition. Meabh Corkery (Midleton AC) and Olive Burger (Leevale AC) will battle it out for gold in the U17 event.
On the track the one-lapped 200m finals will be amongst the first up for grabs.
National U20 champion Joe Burke (Templemore AC) looks set to go in the Boys U17 final should he advance through the heats. Molly Daly (Kilkenny City Harriers) has been in scintillating form this indoor season and will look to win another national medal in the U17 Girls event.
In the U18 Girls 200m, Katie Doherty (Ratoath AC) will look to add to the national u20 title she won in January, while in the U19 Boys final Toby Thompson (Ballymena and Antrim AC) will be hoping to impress should he make it.
The 800m finals are sure to provide their usual drama when they get underway from 4:15pm.
Ones to watch include Mayo twins Freya and Holly Renton (Westport AC – U15 Girls), Freya Bateman (Belgooly AC – U16 Girls), Emily Bolton (Donore Harriers – U17 Girls), Declan O’Connell (Craughwell AC – U17 Boys), Caolan McFadden (Cranford AC – U18 Boys) and Nicole Dinan (Leevale AC – U19 Girls).
The 60m Hurdles finals will conclude the busy two day schedule.
Both female and male national U20 champions will look to add another title to their respective hauls in the event. Okwu Backari (Leevale AC) goes in the U19 Girls competition, while Sean Owens (Crusaders AC) will aim for gold in the U19 Boys event.
Athletics Ireland wishes all those competing the best of luck.