Further medal success for Longford athletes at All-Ireland Indoor Championships

A bumper two days of competition at TUS Athlone began with a brilliant run by Longford Athletics Club member Emma Brennan in the very first track event of Saturday morning. Lining up in the competitive Under-16 1500 metres, Emma showed her strength with a superb performance to claim a bronze medal following a very close finish. Her dip for the line secured third place just 0.02 of a second ahead of fourth at the end of a thrilling race. A big personal best time of 4:49.22 for Emma ensured a first National track club medal for the Moyne CS student in an already very successful year of racing.

Andrew Nolan, of Lough Ree Athletics Club, reached the top of the podium on Saturday afternoon after a gold medal winning display in the Under-12 2kg Shot Put. The Clondra NS pupil had an outstanding competition culminating with his final attempt of 10.61 metres setting a new Championship Record. Over 1.50 metres clear of the second place athlete, it was a hugely impressive performance. A great achievement for the Lanesborough-based club with Fabian Walsh, a driving force for Lough Ree AC over many years, proudly watching on trackside as Andrew received his gold medal.

John Fitzpatrick, of Longford AC, had another Championship to remember when winning two medals. On Sunday, a brilliant display of jumping in the Under-13 High Jump saw him earn gold with a leading clearance of 1.56m. This personal best leap was over 10 centimetres better than the next placed athlete. A short time later, Melview schoolboy John followed it up with a tremendous silver medal success in the 2kg Shot Put. A longest effort of 10.82m, setting a personal best for the event, secured second place on the podium for multi-talented John who had also competed well in the Long Jump on Saturday.

There were plenty of other excellent performances by Longford athletes over the weekend including Sinéad Masterson whose personal best 1.48m leap earned her fourth place in the Under-14 High Jump only narrowly missing out on a medal. Leah Waters, Rian McCaffrey and Timothy Sheridan also recorded personal best heights in the event while Zoe Mulligan and Sinéad Masterson competed well in the Long Jump. 

Adam Mulleady, Seán Grealy, Holly Rogers, Amy Jordan and Kevin Og Murphy set good times, with personal bests aplenty, in the sprints events with the versatile Kevin Og also performing impressively in both the High Jump and Shot Put. Robin Og Murphy in the 1500m Walk, Leah Waters in the 60m Hurdles and Ben Quinn in the 1500m each competed strongly in their respective events on an action-packed weekend of athletics. On Sunday, Emma Brennan was back on the track and ran strongly in the 800m to qualify from her heat before placing sixth in the final.

At a National Championship of high quality, there were numerous personal bests achieved and valuable experience gained for local athletes all of whom have already done so well to have qualified from February’s Connacht Championships. Credit to the athletes and to their coaches for the great work done in advance of competition which each can build upon now with the outdoor track and field season fast approaching.