Blackrock A.C. young athletes enjoyed the sunshine and medal success at last Saturday’s Dublin Team competition (Children’s Games) with a large group of under 9s to under 11s in action.
Competing as pairs our youngsters were allowed to enter up to two events plus a relay selected from 60m, 300m(u9) / 500m(u10) / 600m(u11), long jump and turbo javelin.
Blackrock A.C. Under 9s
A huge cheer to the eight children from our 2014s group who competed; George Balfe, Adam Byrne, Darragh Greenan, John Kennedy, Lauren Gallagher, Sophie Moran, Rose Mullane & Tuula Prendergast.
It was a great day with lots of good performances in the 60m sprint, long jump and 300m run; there were definitely some PBs achieved!
A special mention to Darragh Greenan who came first in his heat in the 60 meters, unfortunately, he did not get the opportunity to run the finals because he was an individual entry in the pairs competition. Well done Daragh!
Blackrock A.C. Under 10s
18 young athletes represented Blackrock AC at the under 10 level in the Dublin pairs championships on 28 May in Tallaght. A great day was had by all in the glorious sunshine with the group turning in some terrific performances. Four pairs won medals (three golds and one silver) and qualified for the national finals in Tullamore in July.
Aoife Holland and Emyrose Tomkin Beddy followed up on their excellent performances in the recent league events and won gold the girls’ 60m in fine style. There were notable performances from a number of the other girls with Alexis Duggan and Sophia Kelly winning their heats and Erin Matthews, Sophia Tuite, Lola McGlinchey and Lily McPhilips all running strong races. The boys’ heats were highly competitive on the day but Henrik Prendergast and Senan Griffith performed very well.
Chloe Dowling and Erin Matthews won gold in the girls’ turbo javelins with a huge combined distance of over 30 metres. While Marcus Kieran and Senan Griffith also threw very well to win silver in the boys’ event with James Buckley and Matthew Christian and James Buckley and Mathew Christian finishing just outside the medals. Much credit must go to Gillian Kelly for her specialist coaching of the younger age groups in the turbos.
Aoife and Emyrose followed up their sprinting success with very convincing runs in the girls’ 500m crossing the line together to take gold. Chloe Dowling and Lily McPhilips ran very creditable races in very warm conditions but just finished outside the podium places. The boys also ran very well with brothers Ailbe and Cuan O’Reilly and James Buckley and Max Stafford featuring prominently in their races. Great credit to Max who picked himself off the ground after an early fall to pass many of the field.
We had two girls teams and two boys teams participate in the 4 x 100m relay heats. The leading boys’ team qualified for the final finishing in a very creditable sixth place while the leading girls’ team finished fourth in their final just missing out on a medal in a photo finish.
Thanks to all our coaches and parents who turned out in force and made sure all the children enjoyed themselves.
Blackrock A.C. Under 11s
For the Under 11s Blackrock A.C. had 18 athletes competing and came away with an impressive haul of 7 medals (top 3 finishes).
In the Girls 60m Blackrock’s numbers were considerable with an outstanding four pairs teams entered including Maya Mobius, Amelia Burns, Ciara Sengupta, Lucy Horrigan, Laura Collumb, Sarah McCarthy, Robyn Moran and Nieve Gleich. Maya and Amelia led the way coming home 1st and picking up gold medals.
In the boys’ 60m five Blackrock AC athletes took on Dublin’s finest with Josh Hunt, Des White, Matthew McKenna, Theo Loughrey and Ethan Hollis all performing magnificently. Not to be outdone by the girls’ Josh and Des came away with a 1st place finish and another sprint Gold for the Under 11s.
In the long jump events Blackrock AC once again excelled with another four pairs entered in the girls event; Lara Woods, Doireann O’Donoghue, Nieve Gleich, Ciara Sengupta, Iris McPhillips, Laura Collumb, Robyn Moran, Sarah McCarthy. This time our girls picked up two medals with Lara and Doireann finishing 2nd and Nieve and Ciara achieving 3rd place.
For the boys, two pairs were entered with James Brennan, Theo Loughrey, Ethan Hollis and Matthew McKenna all breaking their personal bests and narrowly missing out on the medals.
The 600m events witnessed further strong performance from our Under 11 athletes with the girls’ pairings including Lara Woods, Doireann O’Donoghue, Amelia Burns, Isla Maher and Iris McPhillips. All five girls ran their hearts out and were unfortunate to miss out on the medals.
In the boys 600m we had the one pairing of Josh Hunt and James Brennan entered, who ran superbly to pick up 2nd place and a silver medal.
Rounding off the day, for the Under 11s, were the 4 x 100m relay events and Blackrock A.C. were able to enter a magnificent three teams in the girls’ race.
Both Team 2 (Laura Collumb, Ciara Sengupta, Nieve Gleich & Lucy Horrigan) and Team 3 (Sarah McCarthy, Iris McPhillips, Robyn Moran & Isla Maher) were unlucky to narrowly miss out on the final having battled to 4th and 3rd place finishes in their heats. Whilst our Team 1 (Doireann O’Donoghue, Lara Woods, Amelia Burns & Maya Mobius) stormed home to win their heat and final bringing home gold in impressive style.
Attempting to match the girl’s achievements our boys’ team of Theo Loughrey, Matthew McKenna, James Brennan & Josh Hunt made it a double u11s gold for Blackrock AC by winning their heat and final in equally impressive style to the girls!
Congratulations to all our young athletes.
Our top 3 Pairs and Relay finishers will now go on to compete in the National Children’s Games competition in Tullamore on the 2nd July.
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