Boyne AC got the local outdoor track and field season off to a great start recently, with over 60 of their young athletes in action at the Athletics Louth Pre Championships.
The event, held in the Lourdes stadium, was held to give athletes an opportunity to compete against their peers in a variety of events, in preparation for the championships proper which take place in May.
Getting things off to a great start for the club, the u8s took to the start line for their 60m sprint, with impressive performances from Cormac Brodigan and Broden O’Hare in the boy’s race, and Ruby Winters and Stella Gow, who took the win, and Boyne’s first medal of the day, in the girl’s race, Stella also took bronze in the 300m race.
The u9s were next to the track, with great runs from Oisin Carolan, Conor Hughes and Malachy Brodigan, who both qualified for the semi-finals and just missed out on a place in the final in the boy’s race, while there was a super run from Lucy Walsh in the girl’s event.
The u10’s were well represented in the boys 60m race, with super runs from Charlie Cooper, Joseph McBennett, Tadhg Lalor and Conor Smyth, and also from Caitlin Hughes in the girls event, Caitlin then took the win in her 500m distance race.
Ashley Byrne, Aoife McCabe and Juliet O’Hare all ran well in their u11 60m sprint, while it was almost a clean sweep for Boyne in the boy’s final, with Cillian Hickey in 2nd place, Ross Byrne in 3rd and Sean Clarke just missing out on a podium place in 4th, Cillian also took bronze in his 600m race.
Great running too from Malcolm Fitzgerald, Will Gow, Charlie Kelly, Harry Kingston, Jamie Leddy and Garvin Lundon, who gave it their all in a very competitive field.
The u12 girls had three rounds to get through to reach the final, and both Hila Raji and Isabelle Winters progressed through them all to take their place on the start line of the final, where a tough battle saw Hila finish in 3rd overall, and Isabelle just outside the medals. Great runs too from Laosie Black, Ruby Cooper, Harriet Fitzgerald, Moya Kennedy, Emily Valuckyte and Sarah Ann Walsh. In the u12 boys’ race, Marko Ozolins was unlucky not to make it through to the final.
In the u13 boy’s 80m sprint, it was a super run from Rhys Mathew, while Cuan Gamble and Riley Byrne both qualified for the semi-finals, but just missed out on a place in the final, and in the girls race, Mollie Fay qualified for her semi-final, and Anish Bala, Ellen Boylan, Maisie Byrne and Ellie Russell all ran well.
In the u13 600m race, Robyn Reilly just missed out on a medal finishing in a tough 4th place overall, while in the boy’s race, a strong run from Eoin McEntee saw him finish in bronze medal position.
Bonnie Hegarty was the next medal winner for Boyne AC as she stormed to victory in the girl’s u14 80m sprint, where clubmates Sadhbh O’Donoghue and Romane Njugana both ran well to qualify for their semi-finals, while in the boy’s race, it was a great run too from Sam Doyle.
The u15s had 100m to sprint over, with Hannelle Raji making light work of the field to take the gold medal, and then added a gold in the shot put and long jump to her collection, while in the boy’s race, Emmet McShane ran well, and Evan Gamble just missed out on a medal in the final.
Rebecca Heading and Aimee Rice both made it through to their final of the u16 100m sprint, while in the boy’s race, Ledley King Abor showed that he is returning to winning ways as he took the gold medal.
Keeping it in the family, sister Nina took the win in the girl’s u19 100m sprint, with Hannah Newman not far behind in 3rd, while in the boy’s race, Jack Devitt put his sprint training to good use as he took the top spot on the podium, with clubmates caoimhin McShane and Tom Redmond running well also.
In the distance events, Shauna Rice ran well in her 800m race to finish 6th, while in the boy’s race, it was a 3rd place finish and a podium spot for Naoise McAvinia, with clubmate Seamus Keenan finishing 7th.
In the last of the track events, the u16 800m, Jack Garvey ran a super tactical race to finish in 3rd place and take the bronze medal. On the field, Jay Doherty took a fine bronze in the boys shot put, with a throw of 8.21m, while in the girls u19 Shot Put, Hannah Newman took the win with a throw of 8.29m, and also took silver in the long jump.
Boyne took two podium spots in the u11 boys long jump, with Ross Byrne taking the win, and Cillian Hickey in 3rd, while Sam Doyle took bronze in the u15 boy’s event. The day ended on a high for Boyne with an array of medals won in both the girls and boys relays, a fitting end to a successful day for the club, and a great indicator of what is in store for the rest of the season.
