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Reports - July 2011


26 July » 19 July » 12 July » 5 July »

26 July 2011

Last weekend five young female athletes from Dromiskin-based St Peter's AC made the trip to Tullamore for the second weekend of this year's Irish Juvenile Championships. They performed very well and returned home with two silver and one bronze medal, as well as a brace of personal best performances.

Lauren Finegan was first into action at noon on Saturday. She set the tone for the weekend by claiming silver in the Under 15 Javelin with a great throw of 33.12m. Jacqueline Burns of Cookstown HS won with 41.40m, a new championship best performance, while Lauren O'Mahony of Youghal AC threw 26.01m for bronze.

A few hours later Emily Rogers equalled her personal best to also take silver in the Under 18 High Jump. She scaled 1.68m, just 3cm below the winner, English-based Philippa Rogan of Greystones & District AC. Bronze medallist Sorcha Murphy of Ferrybank AC was another strong contender, as she also went clear at 1.68m but ranked behind Emily on countback.

Around the same time on Saturday afternoon Brianán Conway set a great new personal best of 27.27m to take bronze in the Under 19 Javelin. This event was won by Emma Daly of St Abban's AC in Co Laois, who threw 33.39m, while Melissa Barrett of Loughrea AC claimed silver with 28.38m.

Then on Sunday afternoon Niamh Fussey helped the Louth team to a great 4th place finish in the Under 17 inter-county 4x100m relay. They clocked 52.57 to finish just outside the medals, which went to the Dublin, Limerick and Galway teams. Orlaith McMahon was a substitute on the Louth Under 15 team, which ran well in the heats but unfortunately just missed out on a place in the final.

Earlier last week Aoife Coleman continued her comeback to the sport when she ran in the 800m at the Dublin Graded Meet in Irishtown on Wednesday evening. She clocked 2:46.95, a season's best performance, for 7th place in the B race.

Competitions this coming weekend include the Irish Combined Events' Championships in Tullamore, the final Dublin Graded Meet of the season in Santry on Saturday evening and the Ardee & District AC Open Sports on Sunday afternoon. For more information on the remaining competitions of this track and field season, as well as everything else pertaining to St Peter's AC, visit the club's website at www.stpetersac.com.

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19 July 2011

Last week brought yet more success to the athletes of Dromiskin-based St Peter's AC, as they recorded several noteworthy performances at venues ranging from Tullamore in Co Offaly to the Isle of Lewis in the Outer Hebrides.

On Thursday evening Mark Rogers showed that he is well on the way to making a full recovery from his recent hip injury with a convincing victory in the Under 16 Pentathlon at the Leinster Combined Events' Championships in Tullamore. He dominated the competition to finish with a total of 2947 points, almost 500 ahead of the runner-up, fellow Co Louth athlete Daniel Finley from Glenmore AC.

Mark's best event turned out to be the 800m in which he clocked 2:17.16 for 863 points. He also recorded 1.73m for 569 points in the High Jump, 13.67 for 537 points in the 80m Hurdles, 10.78m for 533 points in the Shot Putt and a personal best of 5.32m for 445 points in the Long Jump. He was the highest individual scorer in all four of the five events, and was third best in the 80m Hurdles.

On Sunday Olivia McDonald continued to make encouraging progress on her comeback trail with a fine victory in the Javelin at the National League at Santry in Dublin. She was competing as a guest in this fixture and, in spite of the terrible weather conditions, she recorded a season's best throw of 37.40m.

Glorious weather had prevailed the previous day at the Lewis Highland Games, in which Tom McGrane competed while on holiday in Scotland. He took silver in the Shot Putt behind an athlete from the neighbouring Isle of Harris, with an athlete from Aberdeen finishing in 3rd place.

Earlier last week the club's juvenile athletes were in fine form at the second round of the Louth Juvenile League in Ardee. Event winners included Gabriel Bell with a 3.68m leap in the Under 11 Long Jump, as well as Brianán Conway and Niamh Fussey in the under 19 and Under 17 Shot Putt respectively.

Others to catch the eye with their performances on the night included Asier Alegria, Ava Brennan, Tadhg Brennan, Liam Fussey, Nikayla Hamill, Philip Larney, Pádraic McGinn, Claire McKenna, Orlaith McMahon, Éamonn McManus, Dillon Rogers, Heather Rogers, Katie Rogers and Mark Rogers.

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12 July 2011

Two young athletes from Dromiskin-based St Peter's AC were in action on the first weekend of the Irish Juvenile Championships in Tullamore last Saturday and Sunday. Mark Rogers and Martin McGrane were agonisingly close to the medals, as they both recorded fourth-place finishes. They were not too disappointed however, as they both improved their previous personal best performances by significant margins.

Mark was first into action on Saturday morning in the Under 16 High Jump. He is still recovering from a recent hip injury and described himself as being "about 80% right" before the competition got underway. In these circumstances he did very well to clear 1.68m to claim 4th place, just 3cm behind the bronze medallist.

Shortly afterwards Martin was in action in the Under 14 Discus. His best throw of 23.58m came in the first round and it left him just outside the top eight competitors in this event, which he has just taken up this year.

Martin was back in Tullamore early on Sunday morning to compete in the Shot Putt. After a tentative start he added 54cm to his old PB in the third round of the event. His massive throw of 10.78m was good enough for 4th place and was just 13cm off the medals. Based on the results of the earlier provincial championships around the country, he had only been ranked 8th coming into this competition, so was very pleased to smash his PB and climb up the national rankings.

Mark then lined up for the final of the 250m Hurdles. Like Martin, he was ranked 8th overall in this event after the provincial championships. However he excelled himself with a battling run in what is one of the sport's most demanding events. He crossed the finish line in 5th place, stopping the clock at 36.00 seconds, well inside his previous best of 37.76.

Martin is now finished with championship competition for this season but Mark will return to Tullamore on Saturday week to contest the Shot Putt on the second weekend of these championships. He is due to be joined there by his clubmates Brianán Conway, Lauren Finegan, Éamonn McManus and Emily Rogers.

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5 July 2011

The athletes of St Peter's AC were in action on a number of fronts last week, as they competed in track and field meets in Drogheda and Antrim as well as road races in Dundalk and Clogherhead.

On Tuesday night last week the first round of the Louth Juvenile League was staged at Meadowview in Drogheda. There were several fine performances by the Dromiskin-based club's athletes. Among the highlights were Lauren Finegan's winning throw of 30.71m in the Under 15 Javelin, Liam Fussey taking the equivalent Boys' event with a 24.45m throw and Martin McGrane's Under 14 Shot Putt victory with 9.78m.

Other athletes to impress included Elizabeth Bell, Gabriel Bell, Ava Brennan, Tadgh Brennan, Brianán Conway, Niamh Fussey, Nikayla Hamill, Pádraic McGinn, Orlaith McMahon, Éamonn McManus, Michael Mullen, Rachel Mullen, Emily Rogers, Heather Rogers and Mark Rogers.

There was an excellent turnout of St Peter's athletes in the Under 14 to 19 age groups in Drogheda but the response from those in the Under 9 to 13 age groups was a little disappointing. Hopefully athletes from all age groups will be out in force for the second round in Ardee next Tuesday evening and for the final round in Bush two weeks later.

Brother and sister Michael Mullen and Rachel Mullen, were back in action last Friday night, when they both ran in the Dundealgan AC Road Races in the Seatown area of Dundalk. One of the trophies presented on the night was the Phyllis Muckian Cup in honour of their late grandmother.

On Saturday afternoon Tom McGrane competed in the Northern Ireland Team Trophy in Antrim. There was a bigger than usual field of ten competitors in his event, the Senior Men's Shot Putt. Tom finished in 8th place with an 8.98m throw, which was quite a respectable performance given that he was competing against men much younger than himself.

On Sunday afternoon Shenda Rijnders, Catherine Rogers and Kay Morris ran in the Seaside 10K Road Race in Clogherhead. The combination of a hilly course and hot sunshine was not conducive to fast times, but the women enjoyed the race nonetheless. Shenda was first across the finish line in 55 minutes, followed quite closely by Catherine in 58 minutes and Kay in 60 minutes.

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