A number of Tallaght athletes again stepped on to the
podium at the concluding weekend of the National Juvenile Indoor
Championships in Nenagh.
In the U18 200m, Brian Gregan was hoping to add
another gold to the 400m title he won the previous week, and after
setting a new p.b in winning the qualifier his confidence and that of
the Tallaght supporters was high. In the final he again produced another
excellent sprinting performance only to be denied gold on the line by
the narrowest of margins. Although a little disappointed with silver, he
was more than pleased with setting yet again another a new p.b of 22.71.
Dublin U18 bronze medalist Anthony Lieghio also
produced a p.b. when he came with a storming run off the last bend to
take the bronze in the U18 800m in 2mins flat, whilst Rebecca Game was
more than pleased with her performance in the U16 800m where she
finished 5th.
In the relay events on Sunday the U18 4X200m team,
Sean Morris, Michael Solan, Sean Bolger and Brian Gregan were tipped to
take the title, but despite their valiant efforts they were denied the
win by a good Shercock A.C. squad with less than a half metre separating
Brian and the Shercock star, Gerard O’ Reilly at the finish line.
However, their 1.35.42 was by far the fastest combined time they have
run to date.
Elsewhere on Sunday our athletes were also in action
in the National Senior Road Relay Championships in Raheny where a total
of 17 teams from around the country, including 2 Tallaght teams
contested the senior event.
Tallaghts 1st team included 2 of our
promising young athletes, Anthony Lieghio and Robert Fitzsimons and both
were more than delighted to compete as part of a senior squad that
included talented Aidan Walsh, who had come home from the States
especially to run for the club and Davy Byrne who has been our leading
senior athlete in recent months.
Davy ran the first 2 mile 6m leg in a good 9.58 and
handed the baton to Anthony who held his own throughout his 1 mile 30m
leg, running 4.41, followed by Aidan who ran the 3rd leg of 3
miles 90m in a time of 14.52 (the 3rd fastest on the day),
and he in turn changed to Robert who ran the final 2 miles in 10.13,
leading the team to a very good 5th placing overall. Whilst
there were no available times for last year, the combined time of the
team would have been enough to secure the silver in 2004 and 2003.
Our 2nd team also included 2 young
athletes, Peter Fitzsimons and Luke Coleman and combined with Nilton
Demorez and James Crowley ran very well in their 1st National
Road Relay Championships.
Our vets team were led off by Billy Murphy who ran the first leg of 1
mile, handing over to Niall Coppinger who ran the second leg of 2 miles
with Desie Shorten after completing his 1 mile lap crossing the line in
8th of the 17 competing vets teams.