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Reports - April 2011


27 April » 20 April » 13 April » 6 April »

27 April 2011

The members of St Peter's AC will certainly be busy over the next few days. This Wednesday evening the Louth Juvenile Pre-championship competition takes place at the Bush track. 34 young athletes from the club are entered – 19 girls and 15 boys. The action gets underway at 6:30 pm, so all competitors should be at the venue by 6 pm.

The Dromiskin-based club's annual Flag Day takes place on Thursday, with most of the collectors based at the various shopping centres in Dundalk. As in previous years, Geraldine Fussey has put great efforts into organising the Flag Day. It is hoped that there will be good support for this event from older club members and parents, so that the club can benefit fully from the undoubted generosity of the local community.

On Friday and Saturday Hilary Kerr and Frances Rogers are expected to compete in the Irish Universities' Championships in Antrim. Hilary is a student at the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, while Frances will wearing the colours of Trinity College, Dublin.

On Sunday evening Kay Morris and Catherine Rogers, both of whom ran in the recent Great Ireland Run in the Phoenix Park, may well avail of an opportunity to run a 10km road race closer to home, as the Boyne 10K will be staged around the streets of Drogheda.

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20 April 2011

Last Sunday's Cushinstown AC Sports heralded the traditional opening of the local track and field season. St Peter's AC was well represented at the County Meath venue, and the Dromiskin-based club's athletes embarked on their homeward journey with a fine haul of five gold, nine silver and two bronze awards.

Mark Rogers had a very busy and successful day, winning the Under 16 High Jump (1.70m) and Shot Putt (10.54m), finishing 2nd in the Under 16 300m and 1000m Walk, and taking 3rd in the Under 17 Long Jump (4.84m).

Young Ava Brennan impressed in the Under 11 events with gold in the Long Jump (3.35m), silver in the 200m and bronze in the 80m. The club's other winners were Emily Rogers in the Senior High Jump (1.60m) and Martin McGrane in the Under 14 Shot Putt (9.21m), both of whom won their events with some ease.

Heather Rogers finished 2nd in the Under 14 Shot Putt (7.67m) early in the day and then later teamed up with Nikayla Hamill, Sarah Larney and Orlaith McMahon for another silver in the Under 14 4x100m.

Niamh Fussey was a double silver medallist at Under 17 level with good performances in the 100m and Long Jump (4.47m). Tom McGrane finished 2nd in the Senior Shot Putt (9.18m), while Gabriel Bell also took silver in the Under 12 High Jump (1.16m).

Other athletes from the club who competed included Tadhg Brennan, Liam Fussey, Pádraic McGinn, Claire McKenna and Michael Mullen. They all performed well and produced several personal best performances.

Earlier last week six St Peter's AC athletes represented their secondary schools in the North Leinster and West Leinster Schools' Championships at Santry Stadium in Dublin. In total they won five gold and four bronze medals in what are always very competitive championships.

Mark Rogers (St Joseph's CBS) won the Junior 800m and High Jump (1.70m). Lauren Finegan (Greenhills) also won double gold in the Minor Long Jump and Javelin (26.13m). Niamh Fussey (Scoil Uí Mhuirí) took the Intermediate 80m Hurdles title, with Emily Rogers (Greenhills) taking bronze in the same race.

The club's athletes also won bronze medals in each of the Minor Boys' throwing events through Martin McGrane (Castleknock Community College) in the Shot Putt (9.09m) and Discus (20.87m) and Liam Fussey (Scoil Uí Mhuirí) in the Javelin.

Martin was competing in the West Leinster region, while the others were in action in the North Leinster region. The first two in the sprints and hurdles and the top three in the other events qualify for the Leinster Schools' Championships. The second day of the North Leinster Championships will be staged on 6th May, so the club can expect to be well represented at the provincial finals on 18th and 21st May.

The fine performances over the past week in both Santry and Cushinstown have certainly instilled a spirit of optimism for the club's prospects during this summer's track and field season.

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13 April 2011

Last Friday two athletes from St Peter's AC got their outdoor track and field season off to an early start, less than a week after the final competition of the indoor season. The occasion was the Meath Schools' Championships in Navan, in which Greenhills College traditionally takes part, in spite of its location on the north side of Drogheda.

Lauren Finegan was in great form in the Minor (Under 14) Shot Putt, as she won with a personal best throw of 9.19m. She also finished 5th in the Long Jump and helped the Greenhills team to the bronze medals in the 4x100m relay.

Despite a hard training session with the club in Dromiskin the previous evening, Emily Rogers equalled her seasonal best of 1.63m in the Intermediate (Under 17) High Jump. However she had to settle for silver behind her Greenhills teammate, Amy McTeggart of Boyne AC, who cleared a very impressive 1.66m.

On Sunday Catherine Rogers (Emily's mother) and Kay Morris, along with 11,000 other runners, competed in the Great Ireland Run in the Phoenix Park in Dublin. This very popular event also serves as the Irish National 10km Road Championships. Both had good runs to finish in the top half of the huge field. Catherine clocked 58:57 for 72nd place in the Over 45 Women's category, with Kay just seconds behind in 59:22 for 174th place in the Over 40 age group.

More athletes from St Peter's AC will be in action this week, as the first day of the North Leinster Schools' and both days of the West Leinster Schools' Championships are scheduled for Santry in Dublin. These are qualifying events for next month's Leinster Schools' Championships, which in turn leads to the Irish Schools' Championships at the beginning of June.

Then, on Sunday next, all the club's athletes will have an opportunity to compete, as the Open Sports hosted by Meath club Cushinstown AC will undoubtedly prove popular with clubs across North Leinster and South-East Ulster.

St Peter's AC will be holding its annual Flag Day on Thursday 28th April (the second week of the Easter holidays) at the shopping centres in Dundalk. Volunteers are needed for the day and all parents and older athletes are asked to help. It is a chance to raise much needed funds for the club and this year it is an even better opportunity as it falls during a holiday week. Please text Geraldine Fussey on 086 3675155 and commit three hours on that day – either 10am to 1pm, 1pm to 4pm or 4pm to 7pm. Your help is much appreciated. If you are not available, please let Geraldine know also, as she needs to organise the collectors for the day.

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6 April 2011

Last Saturday three athletes from St Peter's AC travelled to Nenagh for the second weekend of the Irish Juvenile Indoor Championships. They produced some fine performances and added two national silver medals to the Dromiskin-based club's medal haul from this year's indoor season.

Mark Rogers' recent decision to focus his training more towards the 800m event certainly paid rich dividends. He took over three seconds off his personal best as he clocked 2:08.49 to finish runner-up in the Under 16 800m, less than half a second behind the winner. Two weeks ago he had also taken silver in the High Jump on the first weekend of these championships in Magherafelt.

Emily Rogers, Mark's older sister, was also in good form, as she equalled her seasonal best of 1.63m for silver in the Under 18 High Jump. This was her second national High Jump medal of 2011, as back in February she took bronze in the Irish Senior Indoor Championships at the Odyssey Arena in Belfast.

Niamh Fussey had missed the Leinster Championships through illness and the Ulster Championships as they clashed with a school skiing trip to Boston. She was thus having her first competition of the season in Nenagh on Saturday where she competed in the Under 17 Long Jump. Unfortunately she was a little below her best on the day and finished in 10th place with a leap of 4.48m.

The 2011 indoor season has now concluded and it has been quite a good one for St Peter's AC. Eight medals have been won in Irish Championships – one senior bronze, three silver and one bronze at juvenile level, one masters' silver, and a silver and bronze in the Universities' Championships. Club athletes also won eight juvenile provincial medals – one gold, two silver and one bronze in Leinster, and two gold, one silver and one bronze in Ulster.

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