Our marvellous season continued in Tullamore earlier today when the girls U12 & U13 relay teams clinched a pair of National titles with two Championship records thrown in for good measure.
GloHealth were sponsoring their first National AAI Juvenile event as the top provincial Relay teams descended on a very pleasant Tullamore Harriers track.
Our Girls U13 team were first off this morning and hopes were high after a string of fine performances both Individually and as a Team at the recent Dublin championships. Competing in Heat 1 they produced a PB when winning in 53.96 secs just .06 outside the championship record and taking them through as fastest qualifiers with the likes of Donneen AC, SLOT, Finn Valley and Bandon AC all running fast times in the two heats.
In the Final the quartet didn’t disappoint with slick baton changes between Emma, Ellen and Laura setting up a pulsating finish with Kristina holding off a strong Finn Valley challenge to clinch the title and a new Championship Best Performance of 53.28 (The exciting finish is pictured on the AAI headlined report below).
A fitting reward for the girls who have been together for three years and a model of consistency. Their execution in both the heat and the final was hugely impressive. Well done girls on the title and record.
The Under 12 girls were on a high from the morning excitement and Laura and Emma were joined by Isabel O’Brien (running up from the U11’s) and Sarah AlMukhaizeem, who was running in only her second club relay competition. Once again the girls qualified with the fastest time (56.43) and in the final Isabel, Laura and Sarah produced an excellent set of relay legs setting up Emma who was slightly behind on the final changeover but held her composure and came storming through “Olympic Style” ahead of Ratoath and Galway City Harriers to land the title in another CBP of 55.77 amid wild celebrations from the Blackrock supporters.
The U12 team performance is quite remarkable when you look at the contribution of Emma and Laura in the two age groups and Isabel and Sarah who were tasting competition at this level for the first time.
The teams were as follows:
U12: Isabel O’Brien, Laura Gallagher, Sarah AlMukhaizeem and Emma O’Brien
U13: Emma O’Brien, Ellen Cheung, Laura Gallagher, Kristina O’Connor
A big thank you to the coaches and supporters for their great encouragement and also the support from the other Dublin clubs in what was another enjoyable competition for all the clubs participating.
Congratulations to both teams and all your hard training has paid dividends.
