The club held a very successful juvenile awards night on Wednesday 30th November after training. There were a large number of athletes and parents present and the night bore testament to how much the club has developed over the past 12 months.
Four awards were presented on the night. The first award was the Juvenile Outstanding Male Performance of the year and this went to Cian McPhillips for his performance at the Connaught Primary Schools Cross Country Championships where he finish second and collected his first Connaught medal. This performance was the culmination of excellent performance he has had since joining the club, other performances included a comprehensive win in the County Longford Primary Schools Cross Country event, National Community Games 200 meters where he finished fifth in the final and just outside a national medal and team section for the Connaught Boys Under 11 cross country team. Cian is an excellent prospect for the future as he both posses excellent speed and stamina.
The second award was the Juvenile Outstanding Female Performance of the year and this went to Ikeya Collins who won the Connaught Championship Under 12 girls 600 meters gold medal with a class performance wining in a time of 1 minute 58.84 seconds and this was a leading national time for 2011. Winning Connaught titles is a rare event in any sport for Longford and certainly one which was savored by everyone present at the Sligo IT athletics track last June and no doubt will be remembered for a long time. Again like Cian this was a result of a range of excellent performances during the summer season where Ikeya won every race which she competed in. Ikeya has a bright future in athletics and we all looking forward to seeing her on the track next summer.
Two other awards were presented on the night and these were for club juvenile male and female athletes of the year. Theses awards are presented to athletes who consistently attend training, complete for the club at competitions, bring a positive attitude with them to competitors, coaches & spectators alike and are role models to all within the club. These awards were presented to Keith Gray and Sarah Sloane and they thoroughly deserved these awards. Athletes like Keith and Sarah are ambassadors for both the club and their peer group. All athletes who were present on the night were presented with medals and this wraps up a very successful year. This was the last training session for the year and we look forward to seeing all the juvenile athletes in early January.
