Tullamore Harriers athletes perform well at Irish Schools Championships
Tullamore Harriers news
Several club athletes were in action at the 123.ie All Ireland Irish Schools Championships in Tullamore over the weekend, producing a series of outstanding performances despite difficult weather conditions, with heavy rain and strong winds affecting many events.
Alisha Maher, representing Tullamore College, was first in action in the Senior Girls' 100m. Battling the challenging conditions, she did not get her usual sharp, explosive start but worked hard throughout the race to secure an excellent bronze medal position in a time of 12.12 seconds. Unfortunately, a wind reading of +2.3m/s meant the performance could not be recognised as a club record.
Also competing, from the Sprint Group, was Lucy Champ of Moate Community School in the Senior Girls' 200m. On a wet track, Lucy showed great form to finish fifth in a strong time of 25.92 seconds, just 0.07 seconds outside her personal best. Later in the day, Lucy returned to compete as part of her school's Senior Girls' 4x100m relay team alongside Eva Fox, Aine Bracken and Alex Kelly. The quartet produced an excellent performance, with smooth baton exchanges helping them to sixth place and a new school best time of 52.85 seconds.
In the field events, Eimear Cotter, representing Killina Presentation Secondary School, competed in the Senior Girls' Long Jump. Coming into the championships in excellent form following her silver medal and PB jump of 5.50m at the Leinster Finals, Eimear knew it would take another big performance to challenge for a medal.
Her opening jump was outstanding in both technique and speed. However, after a lengthy delay, it was controversially ruled a foul, despite differing opinions among the officials. Showing great resilience, Eimear regrouped and recorded jumps of 5.23m and 5.22m to secure fifth place and a place among the final six competitors.
As the weather deteriorated further, conditions became increasingly difficult for all athletes. Undeterred, Eimear remained focused and produced two longer jumps in the final rounds, but unfortunately marginal fouls prevented her from improving her position, leaving her with a highly respectable fifth-place finish overall.
Another impressive performance came from Adelyn Walsh from the Middle-Distance Group and representing Tullamore College, in the Intermediate Girls' 1500m. Adelyn positioned herself in the lead group from the gun and remained in contention throughout the race. On the last lap she competed well and was just edged out of a medal spot in the final straight. She finished fourth in 4:39.26 which is a great time considering the very windy conditions.
These performances are more impressive considering the commitment required to balance training, competition and academic studies at this stage of the school year. Congratulations to all the athletes who proudly represented their schools and the club at one of the most prestigious competitions on the schools’ athletics calendar.
National Half Marathon Championships
John Carroll was the club's sole representative at the National Half Marathon Championship, which this year was incorporated into the Analog Devices Cork City Half Marathon. A total of 12,300 participants took to the streets of Cork on Sunday, 31st May, across the marathon, half marathon, and 10K events. The half marathon attracted just over 4000 runners, with Ryan Creech of Leevale AC 1st in 1:04:51 and Heather Murphy of St Michael's AC Portarlington securing the women's national title in 1:15:11.
John completed the challenging course in a time of 1:50.
David Flaherty produced an excellent run at the marathon open event with a finishing time of 2:58:11.
Ballyskenach 5K
Well done to all who lined out in the blue and white for Round 5 of the Healthy Offaly 5K Series on Friday evening, the 29th of May, Hosted by Ballyskenach Athletic Club, the 5K course took the participants through the picturesque grounds of Cistercian College in Roscrea, finishing with a nice downhill finish at Roscrea Rugby Club
This year's race was won by Simon Farrell of Ennis Track Club in an impressive time of 15:28, while Denise Egan of Ferbane Athletic Club took the women's title in 18:51.
Tullamore Harriers had a good turnout, with 30 athletes taking to the start line and some great times clocked. Daniel Rigney and Evelyn Herlihy both secured brilliant 3rd-place finishes and the club also had age group winners with to Jonathan Dunne 1st O45 and Mary Galvin winning the O60 category.
The top 4 men for Tullamore Harriers secured the 1st team placing - Daniel Rigney, Jonathan Dunne, Nigel Cunningham and Gary Whittle and the ladies’ team were 3rd. Evelyn Herlihy, Rachel Henry, Charlotte Abbott and Elysia McCormack made up the scoring team.
Great running by everyone on a beautiful evening and well done to Ballyskenach AC on a superbly organised race.
Tullamore Harriers results:
Daniel Rigney 0:16:02
Jonathan Dunne 0:16:31
Nigel Cunningham 0:16:56
Gary Whittle 0:17:26
Nick McGowan 0:18:40
Liam Byrne 0:18:45
Alan Heffernan 0:18:59
Darren Butler 0:19:07
Evelyn Herlihy 0:19:07
Fionnan Minnock 0:19:34
Rachel Henry 0:19:45
Darragh Rigney 0:20:39
Charlotte Abbott 0:20:46
Sean Reynolds 0:20:49
Glenn Finlay 0:21:10
Padraig Berry 0:21:16
Elysia McCormack 0:22:43
Mary Galvin 0:23:12
Emer Rigney 0:23:33
Mary Daly 0:24:24
John O'Connell 0:24:25
Naomi Galvin 0:25:36
Olive Mannion 0:25:55
Paul Hensey 0:25:56
Pat Kennedy 0:26:09
Noreen Hunt 0:26:20
Anne Daly 0:26:21
Mary Guest 0:26:26
Martina Conlon 0:26:48
Sharon Daly 0:26:48
Sandra Busteed 0:27:17
Fixtures
June
5th June – Colin Dunne Primary Schools Track & Field Championships, Tullamore Harriers
6th June – Leinster Juvenile Relay Championships – Carlow
7th June – Leinster Combined Events Championships – Carlow
12th June – Naomh Mhuire 5K - Daingean
21st June – Jack Cox 10K – Kilcormac
23rd June – Peter English 625
30th June – Gowran 8 Miles
Senior Training
Tuesday – 5.55pm & 6.40pm.
Thursday - 6.30pm
For any enquiries contact club captains Glenn 0868275228 or Rita 0868386687