I’m Emily, an U15 athlete in Blackrock A.C. Last Saturday, 22nd of January, I competed in the National Combined Events Championships in the indoor arena in Athlone. It was a pentathlon format and the five events were: high jump, long jump, shot put, 60M hurdles and 800M.

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There were 25 athletes competing in my age group, the U15 girls. The standard in some of the events, such as the high jump, was really high and some of the girls were very tall. The high jump winner jumped 1.58 metres! With very little training, I surprised myself by throwing a 2.7kg metal ball (aka the shot put!) over 5.5 metres to come in the top half of the group. The 800m was the last event of the day and I was really pleased to wrap up the day with a PB run in that run.

Afterwards, I was very surprised to learn that I was the first junior athlete ever to compete in this event for Blackrock AC. It was such an exciting and enjoyable event and I would highly recommend it to anyone who enjoys athletics as much as I do. It would also be great to have a club buddy in the event on the day too.

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I hope this post will encourage other athletes to join me to compete in this great event next year!

I was also delighted to receive a cool club hoody and jacket for representing the club at nationals, so thanks to the club for that nice surprise. Hope to see some of my athletics friends in Athlone next January.

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