Largest Group from Longford Ever To Take Part
Day 1, 10th June 2017 at Sligo IT
Connacht Medallists on the day:
Laura McCormack & Aoife Farrell- U11 Girls 60m pair Silver. They are only pair from Longford AC to qualify for National Children’s Games, 24 June at Tullamore
Matthew McCormack- U12 Boys 60m Silver
Funmi Talabi – U13 Girls 80m Gold
Ryan Keogh- U12 Boys Turbo Javelin Silver
U13 Girls 4X100m Relay team Gold (Funmi, Laura F, Siog & Rachel)
Longford Athletics Club was out in force competing in Long Jump, Turbo Javelin, Shot Putt, Sprint, Middle Distance and Hurdles on Day 1 of the Connacht Outdoor Track & Field Championships 2017 at Sligo IT. This year saw our largest group ever with 49 juveniles aged U9-U13 taking part. In total nearly 800 juvenile athletes from across the Western Region travelled to Sligo for the event. The larger counties: Galway, Sligo, Mayo, had to qualify for the Connacht Championships from their own county competition so already the standard is set when these top young athletes step onto the track.
Children in the U9-11 age group compete with a partner and their times/distances are added together as a pair. They are allowed to take part in 2 different events with sprint and middle distance being the most popular combination. Even though medals for Longford seemed very scarce every child went away with their own pb, ‘personal best’, that signifies their performance on the day. Well done to Club new comers Mark McSweeney, Clara Forbes, Bea Casey, Roisin Farrell, Aisling Scanlon, and Sasha and Brooklyn Brady wearing the Longford AC singlet for the first time.
Laura McCormack gave her all clocking the fastest time in U11 girls, 9.55 seconds, in a field of 32 runners. Together with her partner Aoife Farrell they won Silver in this event and have qualified as Longford’s only pair to go forward to the Irish Life Health National Children’s Games on 24th June in Tullamore. Both girls competed at the recent Intercounties track meet as well as the County Longford Community Games finals and are gaining valuable experience with each outing.
Best performances in both 60m sprint and middle distance were Ailbe Mulligan, Ella Duignan, James Hagan and Joseph Carrigy. Well done to U10 Boys Sean Grealy, 10.27 seconds + Max Gallagher, 10.49 seconds, who finished in 4th place, and U11 Boys James Hagan, 9.93 seconds + Hayden Nolan, 10.15 seconds, in 5th place.
Four sprinters including Laura Farrell and Joseph Carrigy both made it through the heats and semi-finals to reach the final 8 runners with Funmi Talabi taking Gold in 11.58 seconds in the U13 Girls 80m and Matthew McCormack winning Silver in U12 Boys 60m, time 9.58 seconds. Funmi notched up another year as the fastest girl in Connacht in her age group and used her speed to help the U13 Girls win Gold in their 4X100m relay. On the day when medals seemed out of grasp, Funmi was the only one travelling home to Longford with 2 Gold hanging around her neck.
Twin brothers Padraic, 10.20m, and Cormac, 15.35m, Mulligan competed in turbo javelin again this year finishing in 5th place. They were also member of the U10 Boys 4X100m relay team with Conor Wright and Max Gallagher that narrowly missed qualification as they finished 4th place by 0.68 seconds.
Congratulations to Ryan Keogh winning Silver in the group of twelve U12 Boys Turbo Javelin with a mighty throw of 27.27m. Ryan, Funmi and Matthew all progress to Athletics Ireland National finals in their individual events on separate days in July at Tullamore.
Longford Athletics Club took to the track at Sligo IT to compete on Day 1 of the Connacht Outdoor Track & Field Championships 2017. This was the largest group from Longford ever to take part with 49 Juveniles in the U9-U13 age group in action in sprint, middle distance, hurdles, long jump, shot putt and turbo javelin.
