Presentation to Cian: On Friday evening last we made a club presentation to Cian McPhillips at St. Mel’s College to mark his fantastic win at the European Junior Championships and recent Irish Junior record. Club Chairperson Donal Mulligan welcomed all to the gathering and Leslie Finnan made a lovely speech of Cian’s athletic achievements over the years (including in long jump!). She entertained us with her own experience of watching at home the excitement and drama unfold of the European 1500m final success. We were delighted to be joined by club sponsor Eoin O’Boyle from O’Boyle and Co Accountants to present Cian with a framed singlet of the one he wore for the final in Estonia. It was also great to welcome Cian’s proud parents Laura and Paddy and sister Sarah and we were joined as well by some of our juvenile members. We were also joined by Aughnacliffe’s John Campbell who is home on holidays from USA. John was one of our leading junior athletes in the 1990s and has been a great supporter of our recent fundraising efforts.
Earlier last week, Cian set a new outdoor personal best for 800 metres at the ‘Night of Sprints’ meet in Belfast. He finished in a time of 1:47.83 for third place behind national 800m champion John Fitzsimons (Kildare AC) and Cillian Kirwan (Raheny Shamrock AC). Dropping down in distance from his preferred 1500m, Cian’s run places him in the top ten fastest outdoor 800m times this year by a European junior athlete.
National Juvenile Track and Field Championships: The first weekend of the National Juvenile Track and Field Championships took place in Tullamore with four club members in action. The inclement weather made competing difficult, but everyone did their best. Funmi Talabi had a busy couple of days with four races in total and was very unfortunate not to medal. A fourth-place finish in the 200m in 26.46 on Saturday was just 0.03 behind the bronze medallist. This was followed by another fourth in the 100m the following day. Naoise Golden in the high jump as well as Emma Brennan and Jack Gallagher both in the 800m each gave it their all in the wet and windy conditions on Saturday. Good luck to Caitlin competing in the 1500m next weekend.
Road Races: More races are beginning to appear on the calendar thankfully. Ciarán Madden ran very well for a third-place finish at the Drogheda 5km on Sunday morning in a strong time of 16:20. Also on Sunday, Edel Mooney, John Farrell, Gary Brady and Enda Farrell all put in good runs at the Kilbeggan 10 mile.
Ciarán Madden ran strongly for a third-place finish at the Drogheda 5km.
