O’BYRNE AND FORDE CLAIM NATIONAL SENIOR MULTI-EVENT CROWNS
Lara O’Byrne (Donore Harriers A.C.) and Jack Forde (St. Killian’s A.C.) were crowned national senior champions at the 123.ie National Indoor Combined Event Championships on Sunday at the Sport Ireland National Indoor Arena (NIA) in Abbotstown, Dublin.
O’Byrne took gold in what was an exciting Pentathlon competition. The 23-year-old from Dublin was trailing Laura Frawley (Nenagh Olympic A.C.) going into the final event, the 800m, but her 2.31.24 finishing time was enough to catapult her to the top of the podium.
Ultimately she had in excess of one hundred points to spare on Frawley as she finished with 3499 points. Laura Frey (Lagan Valley A.C.) won bronze.
Jack Forde retained the Heptathlon title he claimed last year in Athlone in comfortable fashion. Forde showed great versatility across a busy two days of competition as he finished over 600 points clear of silver medallist Evan Hayes (Waterford A.C.).
Taiwo Adereni (Waterford A.C.) finished third, in an identical repeat of last year’s podium.
In the U20 Men’s Heptathlon Finn O’Neill (Lifford Strabane A.C.) came out on top after an exhausting two days of competition.
O’Neill notched up 4908 points on his way to victory, winning all bar one of his events. Arguably his strongest performances came in the Pole Vault where he cleared four metres.
Noah Gilmore (Kilkenny City Harriers A.C.) and Oisin O’Regan (Killarney Valley A.C.) rounded out the podium winning silver and bronze medals respectively.
Brynja Brynjarsdottir (City of Lisburn A.C.) just edged out Ashleigh McArdle (Lifford Strabane A.C.) for gold in the Women’s U20 Pentathlon. Alison Dempsey (Naas A.C.) finished third.
Eoin O’Callaghan (Bandon A.C.) is the U18 Heptathlon champion for 2024, going one further than his silver medal finish twelve months ago. The Cork man was a clear winner of the competition this time round, finishing over 1000 points clear of his nearest challenger with 4602 points. O’Callaghan won six of the seven events.
Tara O’Connor (Dundalk St. Gerald’s A.C.) triumphed in the U18 Pentathlon, winning by over 500 points. O’Connor was particularly impressive in the High Jump where she cleared 1.77m, a European U18 qualifying standard.