Another hectic and busy weekend in Athlone with three Carrick AC breaking into the top eight at the Athletics Ireland Irish Life Health Juvenile Indoors last Saturday & Sunday.Toyosi Fagbo was our top finisher as he broke his personal best when finishing fifth in the U14 60m Final on Sunday, running an exceptional 8.00 dead after running 8.08 when finishing second in his heat. This was a very good run for Toyosi in a high quality final and a great run.
Alannah McGuinness twice broke her personal best, set in the Connachts, as she qualified as a fastest loser in the U16 60m heats with 8.15 before going considerably faster with 8.08 in the final where she finished a close sixth
Gerard Murtagh was our final finalist, this time in the U13 60m - Gerard also set a new personal best in the heats, running 8.42 and was marginally slower in a final plagued by false starts, recording a time of 8.44 which was faster than his old best.
You can watch videos of the 60m Finals on the following link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hw5Iu2m24cM
Also in the 60m heats, Shauna McCabe ran an impressive race to finish fifth in her U18 heat in a new pb of 8.39 while Fiachra O'Dowd ran 7.57 for fourth in his U19 heat. Niall Sheerin's first All-Irelands saw him run 7.95 in his heat while Sophie McCabe ran 8.75 in her U14 heat.
Our youngest competitor of the weekend, Alan Beirne, ran 9.39 in the U12 heats with a strong showing.
On Sunday morning, Anna Corcoran and Fiachra Henry were in action in the 1,500m with Anna recording a time of 5.41.64 in finishing 14th while Fiachra was 10th in his heat in a time of 4.46.71.
On Saturday, we had four relay teams in action with three of them setting new personal bests. Our U15 Girls team were unable to compete after Aine McGwynne suffered a bad knee injury on Friday and we all wish her a speedy recovery!
Our U17 Girls team of Clodagh Sheerin, Anna Corcoran, Seonna Devaney & Alannah McGuinness took three seconds off their Connacht time as they finished eighth overall in a time of 1.54.38, Clodagh and Alannah both breaking 27 seconds on their legs.
The U18 Boys squad of Oisin O’Dowd, Brian Holahan, Oisin Boland and Niall Sheerin were fractionally faster than their Connacht time as they also finished eighth overall in a time of 1.44.62, Niall running a 24.4 split on the last leg.
The U16 squad of Oisin Kearney, Eoghan Farrell, Daniel Bosquette and Evan Corcoran were also faster than their Connacht time, finishing eighth in a time of 1.48.93 with Oisin smashing the 25 second barrier and Evan fractionally outside it.
Unfortunately, the Carrick U14 boys team of Patrick Charles, Shane Finn, Cian Mollohan and Toyosi Fagbo were disqualified after a mishap on the second changeover saw the baton hit the deck. It was a terrible pity as the team looked in a great position to qualify for the Final with a storming leg from Shane Finn but the disappointment is sure to drive these lads on in the future.
Pictures from the two days are on our facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/carrickonshannon.ac/media_set?set=a.984390671698596.1073741929.100003830187592&type=3&pnref=story
Our thanks to all the parents and supporters who travelled to Athlone and especially to Siobhan & Callum Whelan who travelled with the bus on Saturday.
Finally, best of luck to Clodagh Sheerin, Niall Sheerin, Shauna McCabe, Fiachra O'Dowd, Lauren Reynolds, Gerard Murtagh and Shane Finn who are all competing this Saturday in Athlone as the Indoor season comes to an end.
