Another national record for Theo Hanlon
Theo Hanlon during his National Record throw.
The competition is starting to ramp up as we head towards the National Senior Track and Field and ultimately the European championships.
Last week, Sharlene Mawdsley cemented her status as an elite 400m runner when she ran 50.06 seconds for her Diamond League debut in Paris. A few days later she became a Nike professional runner. Sharlene has inspired a plethora of young Irish girls, increasing the depth of 400m running in Ireland and causing the event to fast become one of the most popular amongst young athletes.
There are plenty of Irish athletes competing in races across Europe, many seeking opportunities to gain qualifying standards for the various major championships taking place this summer. While some choose to race abroad, there was plenty of action back on Irish soil with the All-Ireland u20 and u23 Championships taking place in Tullamore.
A total of seven medals were won at the National u20 and u23 Championships last weekend: 1 gold, 2 silver and 4 bronze. On the first day of competition Kildare athletes took four medals. Starting with the sprints, there was silver for Sarah Millea (Celbridge) in the u23 100m. It was the throwing events that proved to be Kildare’s strength.
Theo Hanlon (Suncroft) took gold in the u20 shot putt setting a new national record. Hugh Melaniphy (Naas) took bronze in the u20 Javelin. The Wright sisters Holly and Cara won medals in the Discus. It was silver for Holly in the u23 Discus and bronze for Cara in the u20 Discus. Sunday saw more medals added to the haul. JP Archbold took bronze in the u20 Long Jump. It was bronze for Alison Dempsey (Naas) in the u23 High Jump.
On the roads, St Coca’s held a successful 5km road race with over 500 participants taking to the roads in Kilcock. The winner was Jonas Stafford (UCD) in a rapid 14.09 minutes.
The throwing events proved to be Kildare’s strongest element of success from the first day of competitive action. This success was led by Theo Hanlon (Suncroft) as broke the 23 year old u20 shot putt record set by Eoin Leen (Tralee) back in 2003. In doing so he set the new mark over a me
ter farther.
Hanlon fouled his first throw, with his toe touching the board. A close call, he did not panic as he had potentially 5 more to go. He set a new National record with his second throw, fouled his third and fourth throw and set another national record with his fifth round throw. Hanlon threw 18.39m, obliterating the old mark of 17.33m. This is the fourth record Hanlon has set this year. He now holds the Leinster and All-Ireland senior schools record and the Leinster and All-Ireland u20 records.
The Suncroft athlete qualified for the u20 European Championships last year and made the final with a throw of 18m. This year Hanlon is throwing further, consistently reaching beyond that 18m mark. It has been a year where he had been chasing the World u20 standard, a mark set considerably higher at 18.60m. A week prior to the National u20s Hanlon came close to the standard, winning a shot putt competition in Sweden in 18.51m, just 9cm off the qualifying mark. While records are of course very welcome this year, they have all come to Hanlon in the process of pursing that world u20 standard. The headline for achieving this is coming soon thus he will be seeking further competitions to achieve his goal.
Hugh Milaniphy (Naas) took the county’s first medal of the day with a magnificent bronze in the boys u20 Javelin. The Naas AC athlete started well with 47.11m from his first throw, moving him into the bronze medal spot instantly. The wind was not favourable for his next two throws. Unfortunately for Milamiphy, he fouled his final three throws, but did manage to retain his third place for the remainder of the competition.
There were two medals in the Discus. Cara Wright took bronze in the girls u20 Discus with a best throw of 36.44m from her final throw. Her sister Holly took silver in the u23 Discus, with a throw of 42.66m from her first round effort. A third sister Eve competed in the u20 Long Jump where she finished 10th overall in her first u20 nationals. Just one place ahead of Danielle Kelly (Celbridge) also competing in her first u20 track and field national championships.
On Saturday the times in the middle distance events were somewhat slower than the athletes would have liked with the wind picking up and making conditions not as ideal as they had been earlier in the day. Meabh Caffrey (St Coca’s) was the county’s sole representative over the 800m distance. Caffrey finished 6th in the u23 800m.
In the racewalking, it was 4th place for Saoirse Kennedy (Celbridge in the u23 3000m event. Sunday was an entirely different story. Back to the intense heat, Tullamore was once again scorching as athletes did their best to keep cool amid the high temperatures. Meabh Caffrey was back on the track again for more competitive action.
Caffrey lined up for the u23 1500m against Ireland’s best. She took the lead after 300m, running alongside Ennis Track athlete Nessa Ni Ainifein. In the heat, times were never going to be the fastest, with all the athletes content to run the race as championships races should be run – for the medals.
For the next few laps Caffrey and Ni Ainifein shared the lead. The bell for the final lap changed everything. Ni Ainifein took off, creating some space between herself and the main group. Following her was Kirsti Foster. Before long it was clear who the top three would be. Meabh Caffrey finished 4th in 4.43.70.
Cillian Gleeson (Celbridge) was back racing on Irish soil. The Celbridge AC athlete was home for the summer from college in Wisconsin, where he is currently on an athletics scholarship. Gleeson has already obtained the 5,000m qualifying standard for the World u20 Championships in Oregon next month.
Competing over the shorter distance of 1.500m Gleeson was mixing with the best u20s in the country. The race was led by Louth’s Lorcan Forde-Dunne. Forde-Dunne ensured there was no pedestrian effort and kept the group operating at a lively pace. Content with tucking behind the leaders, Gleeson did so right up to the final lap. Similar to the girls race, it was a sprint finish from the bell.
That sprint finish was commandeered by Noah Harris, also home from scholarship in the USA. The Wicklow man won with one second to spare over Locan Forde-Dunne. Gleeson faded to 5th place.
Three Kildare ladies took part in the u23 100m with all three of them ending up in the same heat. Competing the third heat were Sarah Millea (Celbridge), Rhea Kelly (Celbridge) and Sarah Fitzpatrick (Le Cheile).
It was Millea who was fastest out of the blocks, powering down the 100m straight to cross the line in first place and gain an automatic qualification for the final. In the final she was up against Leila Colfer (SLOT) and Debbie Lawal (UCD). Technical issues with the starting equipment meant the finalist were waiting at the starting line for longer than usual. Fortunately this did not affect Millea’s race.
Lining up in lane 6 beside Colfer, the challenge was on from the moment the starting gun fired. Both athletes were neck and neck for the first 80m, adjacent lanes probably helping in this respect. With 20m to go there were four girls in contention for three medals.
Colfer injected some pace with Millea responding. Crossing the line it was Carlow’s Leila Colfer who took gold, just two hundredths of a second ahead of Celbridge athlete Sarah Millea.
Millea and Rhea Kelly were back for the 200m on the Sunday. Both athletes qualified for the final of the u23 200m. Millea was 4th in the third heat, a rather competitive one that saw two of the final top three medallists take part. Rhea Kelly finished second in her heat, gaining an automatic qualifying spot for the final. It was all gun’s blazing for the final.
Debbie Lawal took the lead coming off the bend. The UCD athlete just marginally ahead of Millea, and the Ratoath pair of Loreen Harrison and Aisling Stratford. Lawal managing to hold on to her lead until 50m to go, when Harrison found another gear and moved into the lead. Stratford came with a late sprint to nip Debbie Lawal on the line for silver. Sarah Millea finished 4th with Rhea Kelly in 7th.
David Oghuvbu (Naas) finished third in the third of four heats in the men’s u23 100m. The Naas athlete ran 11.21 seconds which unfortunately did not qualify him for the final. In the u20 100m, it was also third place in the heats for Danielle Kelly (Celbridge), with Kelly failing to advance to the final.
The Celbridge pair of Max Hollingsworth and Jack Gilmartin took part in the u20 400m. Hollingsworth finished 3rd in the second heat in 52.52 seconds while Gilmartin took second place in the fifth heat in 51.75 seconds.
The Long Jump proved to be both an interesting and competitive affair. With both the u20 and u23 competitions taking place concurrently. The u20 competition included three athletes, whose personal bests exceeded the 7m mark. This included Newbridge’s JP Archbold. Archbold leaped to 7.42 meters, achieving an u18 European 'A' standard at the Leinster championships last month.
Unfortunately time and a bit of good fortune was not on his side and he did not achieve the second A standard prior to the closing date. Now ranked 13th in his age group in Europe the Newbridge athlete will sit out this iteration of the European’s and focus on some remaining competitions.
Chasing a European u20 standard was Michael Kent of Wexford who just last week jumped 7.64m at a competition in Croatia. This was an A standard for the u20 World Championships. The crowd was immensely supportive of the athletes with a larger than usual audience for the long jump. Kent rustled up some positive vibes with the onlooking supporters responding to his rising claps.
This was reiterated for Archbold and Cork’s Ryan Onoh. It was Onoh who got the competition off to a good start with a 7.39m first jump, setting the standard for others to pursue. Archbold jumped 6.84m to place second ahead of Kent who could only manage 6.68m. For all the competitive animation that Kent would generate, it was Onoh who proved to be the most consistent jumper, surpassing the 7m mark with his five jumps before fouling his final effort.
For Archbold, it was a series of four consecutive foul jumps before finally landing a 6.96m effort in the 6th and final round. Kent did not fair out any better. His mark was also off, seeing him take off well before the board on all his jumps. He produced a final round effort of 7.27m to take silver. Athletes do have days like this and athletes at this age group often have to refine their jumping marks as they seek to evolve in their event. Archbold finished 3rd overall, taking home the bronze medal to Newbridge.
Alison Dempsey (Naas AC) was a talented multi-eventer in her juvenile years. Now u23 Dempsey is still competing, although these days she confines her competitive action to individual events rather than the multi’s. Competing in both the high and long jumps last weekend, Dempsey took bronze in the high jump and finished 4th in the Long Jump.
The Naas AC athlete cleared the opening height of 1.40m and subsequent heights before bowing out at 1.55m. In the Long Jump, similar to JP Archbold, she struggled with her mark, fouling four of her 6 jumps. In the Pole Vault Aoibhinn O’Sullivan (Naas) finished 5th clearing 2.90m. She was unlucky not to clear 3m, with her trailing leg catching the bar as she had already cleared it.
As the summer season of road races continues, it was back to Kildare last week, for the St Coca’s AC annual 5km road race. A total of 521 participants finished the race, in what was overall a pleasant experience in the warm summer evening sun.
A flat course with fast times, the winner Jonas Stafford (UCD AC) certainly proved that. The 21 year old Irish International clocked 14.09 minutes to win the race. Colm Rooney (Clonliffe) was second in a time of 14.10 with Michael Harty (East Cork) third in 14.13 minutes. A high calibre field that resulted in a sprint finish over the final 200m, this year’s race proved to be the best yet.
The ladies field was also of a high calibre. The first lady home was Irish International Danielle Donegan (Tullamore Harriers) in 15.45 minutes with Faye Dervan (DCH) second and Ciara Wilson in third.
Peter Tuohy (Naas) was Kildare’s first man across the line in a time of 14.54 minutes. St Coca’s own Alexander Wallace was next in 15th place clocking 15.09. The first Kildare lady was Meabh Caffrey (St Coca’s) in a time of 17.13 minutes, finishing in 8th place. The St Coca’s ladies team finished 4th. Naas AC finished fourth in the men’s team section.
