St Peter’s AC excel once again at Leinster Juvenile Championship

The Leinster Juvenile Championships took place in the Tullamore Harriers Stadium. Sean Reilly continued his dominance over 800M when he won the U18 800M title. This was the third year in succession that Sean had taken the honours, having won the U16 and U17 titles in the two previous years.

Sean looked really comfortable throughout and when he took the lead with 200M to go, he simply cruised to victory. This was Sean’s second medal of the Championships, having won silver in the U18 1500M race on the previous day.

Another athlete to climb the medal rostrum on two occasions was Dearbhla Allen, who has had a few setbacks so far this season, yet still showed to all in attendance that she’s on her way back.

Dearbhla, who has always expressed an interest in doing the steeplechase, finally got her chance when she ran in the U17 race.

This race is ran over 2000M and although it was her first time to compete in a steeplechase, those in attendance wouldn’t have known as she pulled away from the rest of the field and increased her advantage with every lap to take the Gold medal.  She followed this up a day later when she took the bronze medal in the girls U18 3000M.

Niamh Allen wasn’t allowing her older sister to have all the plaudits. She had a super performance in the girls U14 long jump, taking bronze with a leap of 4.41M.

Orla McLoughlin had a great performance in the girls U16 long jump. She has been involved in athletics since the age of seven and after a few near misses and a few unfortunate injuries, she has finally qualified for her first National Championships by finishing fourth. A great example to all the club’s younger athletes.

Niamh Brady ran in the girls U19 1500M Final. A group of athletes all crossed the line together, with Niamh unfortunately missing out on a medal. But with her leaving Cert exams now behind her, Niamh will be back winning medals in the not-too-distant future, as her training was hampered due to her studies.

Elsewhere, Judith Bell was unfortunate not to medal in the girls U19 long jump, losing out on count back. James McCourt made his debut at the Leinster Championships when he took part in the U12 Boys long jump. And although finishing outside the medals on this occasion, the experience will stand to him in the future.