National Juvenile Track and Field Results.

The first phase of the National Championships took place over two days in Tullamore on Saturday and Sunday. These Championships are the culmination of a years hard training for young Athletes and provide a searching test for those who have qualified from Regional Events. Just to qualify is an achievement but to get to a final or win a medal is a great boost to a young Athletes morale.

Athletes from the various clubs in Sligo proved up to the task with a host of good performances and plenty of medals.

Day one saw Colm Bourke of Sligo do well in his under 18 triple jump after a shaky start.

Graham and Stacey Kerr were 4th and 3rd in their heats over 100ms and qualified for their finals where they acquitted themselves well. Zak Irwin was a comfortable second in the heats , a position he also took in the final in the under 16 boys 100ms.Ania Bednoz, Emily Burns and Kevin Mc Glynn all made 100m finals while North Sligo took home a gold in the boys under 17 100ms courtesy of a clear win for Ciaran Elliott in the under 17 100ms while his clubmate , Odhran Byrne Gildea took a
bronze in his under 15 100ms final after both Athletes qualified easily in their heats.

In the sprint hurdle races Shane Mooney of Tireragh AC did well to be 3rd in his under 13 heat and 6th in the final.

Louise Mulvaney was 5th in her under 17 sprint hurdles final, a position she also occupied in the 300ms hurdles final, an event in which she could well win a medal with another year behind her.

Lee Currid of North Sligo was 5th in his hurdles final over 80ms and did well over the longer race later.

While day one was good for Sligo Athletes , day two was a revelation with Cian Mc Bride just missing a National record by one second as he narrowly beat his North Sligo clubmate William Crowe to take the under 15 800ms in just under 2mins 3 secs. At the presentation it was announced that Cians father Brian had lifted the same gold medal 37 years ago but no record of the time.

More gold followed for Kilian O Connor and Leo Doherty of Sligo as they took first in the under 19 3000ms and under 12 600ms respectively.

In the under 17 3000ms James Mc Geough almost emulated his clubmates gold over the same distance but was edged to bronze in a tight finish.

Aaron Murtagh from South Sligo but competing with Balina repeated his Schools win in the Triple Jump with a gold at under 19 level.

There were strong performances from Shane and Darren Kilcawleyand Dylan Carty over 800ms ,while in the girls 800ms Claire Conlon and Caelinn Mc Gonigle did well.