Neil Culhane is National u20 800m Indoor Champion
Ace Athletic Club athletes were in medal winning form over the weekend with the highlight being the performance of Neil Culhane who was crowned national indoors 800m under 20 champion, in a time of 1.54.
No stranger to national titles, Neil had come through the heats earlier in the day in a comfortable time of 2.01. He started the final strongly and got himself into a good position, making his main move with 150m to go, to secure the National title.
The Athletics Ireland indoor under 20 and under 23s national championships were held in Athlone Co Westmeath with four Ace AC athletes taking part including Neil Culhane, Shea O’Donnell, Lorcan Forde Dunne and Ana Drakoulaki.
First up was Shea O’Donnell and Lorcan Forde Dunne in the u20 1500m. Although both athletes were well out of age they competed very well with O’Donnell picking up a PB of 4.06.
Up next was Ana Drakoulaki who ran in both the u20’s 60m and the 200m. She continued her improving form with two good performances. Ana can still run at this age for a few more years.
What a day for Culhane, his family and his coaches!
Great Day for Ace AC in Bellurgan
It was a great day also for Ace AC athletes in Bellurgan at the Johnny Mullen Cup on Sunday. Many young Ace Athletes turned out in big numbers for this annual Cross Country hosted by Glenmore AC. Top 10 positions secured medals.
Ace AC medal winners Cathryn Cumming (left) and Caoimhe Carolan.
The day started with the girls race U10 600m, and Cathryn Cumming age 7, made her racing debut and won her first medal too. In what was a packed race Cathryn started strongly and came home in a very impressive 10th place.
In the boys U10 race Ace AC also had athletes making their debuts including Sean Clare and Padraic McCann. Both boys, along with Caleb Collins ran very well.
The U12’s were up next in the 1200m distance with Caoimhe Carolan and Farrah Smith both making their Ace AC debuts. Farrah competed well and Caoimhe, who has shown great promise in training, was very impressive, coming home in 7th place.
In the boys’ u12 event, Ruairi Cooney was next to win a medal, coming home in 10th place, despite being out of age. The ever improving, Ollie Marron finished just outside the medals in 12th, in what was another classy performance.
In the u16s 3k girls’ race, Leinster 800m & 1500m Champion Chloe Cooney secured gold. Chloe led from the start and was a comfortable winner in the end. Niamh Finnerty put in a big effort in the same race.
In the boys u16 race Daniel Hanley continued his fine form with a 4th place medal, while Killian Sheridan looked strong and also secured a medal in 9th place.
In the final 2 races of the day, Ace picked up more medals with Eimear Cooney and Sholah Lawrence winning silver and bronze respectively, in the senior ladies race, despite being only u18 and u17 athletes. Another u17 Ciara O Connor ran in the same race and won silver in the junior section.
In the boys U18 event, Rhys Clarke who has been in fine form won a bronze medal, with Jamie O’Reilly also running in the same race.
