After a fantastic couple of days in the 2016 Meath Championships, Cilles AC are delighted that 3 Athletes have won their events outright in the Meath Championships.
With Wednesdays U9-11 championships the club was represented well across both boys and girls categories. The boys team consisted of Sean Hyland, Toby Sweetman, Daniel McKenna, Dathi Wade Cillian Wade & Mahon O'Rourke. Fantastic performances by all of the boys in both track and field events with Sean making the 60m sprint final, silver for Dathi in Turbo Javelin and bronze for Daniel In the Long Jump. Isabelle Fox had a fantastic sprint to finish second in the heat and narrowly missed out on a spot in the final which was determined by the timing system. Caoilfhionn O'Rourke & Ceola O'neill had very strong performances in the long jump and the 500m event. Katie Keller took bronze in the turbo javelin to top off a fantastic evening of athletics.
Sundays events were dedicated to U12 - 18 Boys and Girls and again claremont stadium hosted the athletes from across the county. The sun was shining on and off the track as the team arrives throughout the day.
Lauren Murphy, Holly Brennan, Meg Sowray Robyn Hughes, Aimee smith & Ellie Hanley Rice represented the girls team on the day. The boys consisted of Sean French, Ciaran Smith, Gavin Doyle, Kenneth Doyle, Darragh Collins , Liam Hyland, Patrick Farrelly, James Smith , Aaron Smith.
Sean French who was competing out of age in the U18s High Jump and sprints represented himself and the club with very well with a fine performances in all events. Robyn and Aimee both had a fantastic jumps in the long jump competition and Ellie making the final in the 80m sprint. Aaron secured his first medal of the day in the discuss competition with a second place finish, he won his second silver with a PB in the shot. The excitement began in the 200m Final with Darragh Collins who led from the gun and maintained first place all of the way to become the U16 Meath 200m Champion.
The middle distance events began with Meg and Holly donning the black and tange in a fast paced U15 800m final. With a very fast opening 200m Meg found herself in 9th position with holly tucked in nicely in 4th , the second lap slowed a little when Meg maintained her speed to hold position, Holly was having a great battle with 300 to go in a group of 5 when the leader and eventual winner made a strong surge to break away from the pack this stretched out the field, Meg moved up to 8th place on the back straight while Holly kicked bravely with 200 to go to move into 3rd and on the home straight and maintain a fierce pace to catch the second place girl and claimed the silver medal. Meg did the same with in the final 200m and managed to secure 7th position crossing the line in a fast race.
The Boys U15 800m final was represented by Liam Hyland and Patrick Farrelly in a race that was fast from the gun, The field was stretched out after the first 200 with Liam and Patrick in a lovely pace on the first lap and held 4th and 5th going into the final lap. Liam found himself on the shoulder of the 3rd placed runner from Trim with 200m to go and seized his chance to make a move the Trim man wasn't letting the medal go easily and held his position around the bend. Patrick held a very consistent pace and drove hard around the bend with 2 Dunboyne athletes closing behind. It was Liam and the man from Trim on the home straight when Liam kicked again to put some distance between them, his surge didn't stop there and he kicked once more to catch the second placed man from rathoath on the line to claim a Silver Medal. A very strong final 200m saw Patrick hold off the challenge from the men of Dunboyne to claim 5th position.
The Girls U16 800m had Lauren Murphy from Cilles who decided to run 800m over the 1500m where she claimed gold last year. Laurens race was fast from the gun and being lined up against last years 800m champion from Rathoath, Lauren knew that this race was not going to be easy. Lauren held the 3rd place position for the first lap and moved up to 2nd on the back straight when things were getting heated it was the girl from Rathoath who made the move with about 180 to go and Lauren responded like a professional and battled hard around the final bend into the home straight. Both athletes sprinted all of the way to the finish line and it was Lauren who put enough distance between them and became the 800m U16 girls champion of Meath.
The Boys U16 race had three Cilles athletes toe the line with Ciaran Smith, and The Doyle twins Kenneth and Gavin in a race that was one of the most exciting of the day. From the gun it was evident that this was a quick race and a group of 3 athletes put some track between the rest of the field the three included Ciaran and 2 others from Rathoath and Dunshaughlin, with Kenneth in 5th and Gavin in 6th.
As the leaders came around the first lap they could not stretch their lead and Kenneth began to close the gap and moved into 4th while Gavin maintained a strong pace. The lead pack became 4 an Kenneth closed right in and it was Ciaran who made a move and pushed hard around the final bend while Kenneth pushed hard to stay in touch, it was Ciaran, a rathoath man and Kenneth Doyle who broke away on the bend, Kenneth looked comfortable and decided to give it a go on the home straight and with a hard kick that couldn't be matched he surged all of the way to the line to claim the third Championship title for the club. Ciaran Smith finished 3rd to claim bronze with Gavin Doyle finishing in a very respectable 5th place after a blistering final 200m.
The final events of the day were the 1500M and the Cilles runners made a huge effort to race again after their 800m. A very quick U15 boys 1500m Saw James smith in 3rd place position to claim the bronze against a very strong field with Liam Hyland in 4th. Ciaran Smith won his second bronze medal of the day in the U16 1500m with an excellent performance from the gun. Holly had a very strong 1500m to claim 5th place.
A fantastic weekend of juvenile running, Thanks to all of the Coaches for their dedication and help and a special congratulations to all of the athletes who participated this week. We are all very proud of you.
