The Tallaght relay team set a new National record when they stormed to
victory in the U16 4X100m at the National Juvenile Championships in
Tullamore last weekend. Dylan Kennedy ran a superb first leg and was
almost level with the leaders as he changed the baton to Epey Clincy
Muntanga who almost immediately established a lead of 4-5metres before
smoothly handing over to Conor Murray who maintained the gap on his
nearest rivals as he traversed the top bend brilliantly before sending
Joseph Ojuwemi on his way up the final straight to a convincing win and
a new National record of 46.34, beating the previous record of 46.92
which was set back in 2001.
Joseph and Epey again teamed up with clubmate Sam Morrison and Stephen
Hanrahan from Brothers Pearse A.C. to represent Dublin in the Inter
County U15 4X100m and it was another great success, this time for the
Capital as Joseph again took the baton on its final journey across the
finish line to victory, barely missing out on another National record by
.1 of a second.
These combined performances capped off a fantastic weekend for our young
athletes at these Championships as the previous day both Joseph & Epey
again took first and second in the U15 200m in 23.56 and 23.58
respectively, although this time Epey reversed the podium positions of
the 100m which was achieved a fortnight earlier at the same venue.
Keith Doherty made up for his disappointment of being disqualified for
breaking in the 100m final when he finished very strongly to take the
bronze medal in the U16 200m in a time of 23.53 and Aloisa King showed
improved walking skills when she won a similar colour in a hard fought
U14 2,000m walk in 11.34.85.
Another rising star, Mustaffe Nasir after winning the U14 800m title a
few weeks earlier achieved the middle distance double after he led the
U14 1500m field from start to finish and literally stormed to victory
over the final 400m, and his winning time of 4.22.87 was only a few
seconds short of the 1986 National record, which he would possibly have
broken with someone to challenge him, but unfortunately his nearest
rival was over 13 seconds behind.Sean Mc Cabe ran another good race in
the U17 1500m where he recorded a time of 4.23.37.
Cathal Dervan, Sam Morrison, Mustaffe Nasir and Sean Flanagan finished 5th
( 53.81) in the U14 4X100m relay final and they combined with Joseph
Ojuwemi to finsh just short of the medals in the U15’s relay final,
whilst Conor Murray, Sean Mc Cabe, Dylan Kennedy and Keith Doherty also
took 4th in their U17 4X100m in a time of 46.70. In the U18
4X400m John Daly pulled a hamstring after the first 100m of the first
leg but bravely continued on to help his team, Sean Mc Cabe, Philip
Murray and Aaron Mc Donagh complete the relay in 6th.
Overall the National Juvenile Track & Field Champioships turned out to
be a very fruitful outcome with our young athletes winning 4 individual
titles, 2 silver and 4 bronze medals along with the U16 4X100m relay
title & National Record, and three of the four runners on the Dublin
winning team in the Inter Counties U15 4X100m relay were Tallaght
athletes.
Elsewhere, Anthony Lieghio recorded a new P.B of 3.45.36 for the 1500m
after he finished first in a British Milers Club meet in Manchester on
Saturday last where Tomas Fitzpatrick followed him home in 8th
in 3.49.46 and at the same meet Sean Connolly ran 7.56.21 when taking
second in the 3,000m contest.
A few days earlier in Irishtown Artjom Kutjavin produced another P.B of
1.56.62 after he finished 3rd in the Grade “B” 800m contest
where Tomas Fitzpatrick finished a few places back in 1.58.76 and in
Grade “C” Sean Mc Cabe won with a time of 2.5.93., whilst Luke Coleman
ran 9.50.38 for the 3,000m and Sean Morris won the Grade “B” 100m
contest in 11.88.
Whilst many of our seniors will be looking forward to T&F contests and
Road races of the coming weeks, the majority of our juvenile athletes
will be taking a well deserved break from competition with training
resuming on Tuesday 16th August.