We had sunshine and fun at this years’ Track and Field Championships.
Day 1…..
On Friday evening a group of 12 athletes travelled to the Lourdes stadium in Drogheda for Day 1 of the Louth Championships 2018
First out on the track taking on the Hurdles for the U14 girls was Hallie Sands & Órlaith Carolan with Hallie claiming the 1st medal of the championships with a silver. Orlaith came 2nd in the Javelin throwing 20.30m with Ava McNally coming 3rd throwing 17.97m & Samantha McCarron 4th. Ava also cleared 1.30m in the High Jump to take the silver medal. In the boys U14s James Maguire took is first of 4 gold in these championships jumping …. in the High Jump.
Next up on track for the U13 boys was Jack McCarron on his 1st attempt at the Hurdles coming 4th, while Kya Mothiram took gold in the Javelin throwing 21.39m.
Our U16 girls took to the Long Jump with Aoibheann Carolan jumping 4.28m to take bronze followed by Emma Gillespie in 4th. Aoibheann also threw 9.59m in the Shot Putt to take silver & to finish with a trio of medals she won 1st place in the High Jump.
Also in top throwing form was our U15 girls Rebecca McCarron throwing 19.89m to take gold and Eireann Hoey threw 19.06m to claim silver.
In competition too was Abbie Sheridan who jumped 4.69m in the Long Jump to claim silver & done one better taking gold in the High Jump.
Day 2…..
Day 2 of these championships saw the U9s U10s & U11s enter the competition and join their U12 to U17 team mates.
First was the girls U9 60m, Courtney Commins sprinted into the semi finals, she then went on to finish 6th in the 60m but ended her day taking home 2 gold medals for the Long Jump & Turbo Javelin. Our u9 boys a squad of 5 saw Alex Callan, Oran Lynch, Cian Lundon, Max O’Sullivan and Finn Osborne. All 5 boys performed brilliantly with Alex coming 2nd & Oran 4th in the 60m, all 5 ended up in top seven with Oran taking silver and Finn bronze in the 300m. Finn also came 2nd in the Turbo Javelin and to finish the day for the U9s Oran, Max, Cian & Alex took silver in the Rlay.
Two lone soldiers represented our U10s, Jessica McCarron for the girls and Fintan Kelly for the boys, both ran well on the day with Jessica just missing out on a medal with a throw of 9.93m in the Turbo Javelin but Fintan took 1st place on the podium with a throw of 13.88m.
Our U11s saw another sole runner Caoimhe Carolan who performed well just missing out in the medals but a wonderful support to her team mates in the U11 boys, a force of 7, Calum Caffrey, Senan Lundon, Tom Maguire, Dylan McCarron, Ashyn Mothiram, Lennon Murphy and Arthur Sands. These competitive 7 kept us on our toes from the start beginning with Tom taking 3rd in a photo finish 60m. Tom headed off to the podium again to claim gold in the Long Jump with a jump of 3.61m followed by Calum in 4th place jumping 3.40m. Next up was the Turbo Javelin with Tom taking silver supported by Ashyn on the podium taking bronze. All 7 ran well in the 600m with an impressive finish to 2nd place by Dylan. To finish their day the relay team of Tom, Senan, Dylan & Calum took gold on the podium.
Following in from Day 1 some of our U12s to U17s were back in action. Our U12 boys saw Tadhg Caffrey, Jack Dowdall, Cormac Lundon and Charlie Sands. They began their day in the 80m and all ran well with Jack taking gold supported by Tadhg taking silver on the podium. Tadhg, Cormac and Charlie then headed to the Shot Putt area where Tadhg took gold with a throw of 6.60m followed closely behind by Cormac and Charlie throwing 6.06m and 6m respectively.
Our U13s on Day 2 showed impressive throwing with Kya Mothiram taking gold in the Shot Putt. She was quickly followed onto the podium by Rob Kelly taking bronze with a throw of 7.27m also in the Shot Putt and his team mates Joe Murphy & Darragh Osborn both running & throwing well. Jack McCarron took to the track in his 600m just losing out on 3rd place by .2 of a second.
Some of our U14s took to the track with Hallie Sands finishing 5th in the 80m followed closely by Ruth Gillespie but saving the day for the U14s was James Maguire who took top spot in the podium coming 1st in his 80m race and take his second gold of the championships.
Day 2 also saw U15s Isobelle Delaney coming 4th in her 100m and U16s Aoibheann Carolan finishing 5th.
Running for our club for the 1st time was Eoin Clerkin taking bronze in his 100m race & following Eoin to the podium was our seasoned runner Abbie Sheridan who took gold in her 800m.
Day 3…..
Day 3 and with the sun still shining Ardee & District AC got off to a flying start with our U12 Tadhg Caffrey, Jack Dowdall and Charlie Sands taking 1st 3rd & 4th at the podium throwing 19.57m, 13.37m and 13.35m respectively in the Turbo Javelin. Tadhg & Jack then headed to the Long Jump with Jack jumping 3.92m into 1st place & Tadhg 3.50m in 3rd place. Finishing their day all 3 boys were joined by Dylan McCarron to take top spot on the podium by finishing 1st in the U12 Relay.
Jack McCarron and Kya Mothiram both represented our U13s with some wonderful jumping in the Long Jump, Kya just missed out on the podium but Jack jumping 3.78m came 4th in a very tough group.
Our U14s too got off to a flying start with James Maguire topping the podium to take his third gold in the U14 200m followed quickly with gold again in the Long Jump jumping 4.41m and taking home a maximum of 4 golds out of these championships. His fellow team mate Órlaith Carolan also headed to the podium with 3rd in her 200m & 2nd in the Shot Putt throwing 8.62m and to end their day Órlaith was joined by Samantha McCarron, Ruth Gillespie & Hallie Sands to take 3rd place in the U14 Relay.
Our U15s Isobelle Delaney, Rebecca McCarron & Eireann Hoey were on fire in the Shot Putt taking 1st 2nd & 3rd on the podium, Isobelle threw 7.81m Rebecca threw 7.17m (pb) and Eireann threw 6.84m. Eireann then came 4th in her 200m & Rebecca 5th in her 1500m.
To finish the day newcomer Eoin Clerkin took 3rd in the 200m & Abbie Sheridan took 1st in the 1500m.
