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Reports - March 2017


28 March » 14 March » 7 March »

28 March 2017

St Peters AC had athletes in action in Athlone, Carrickmacross and Dundalk at the weekend. Athlone IT was the venue for days one and two of the National Indoor juvenile Championships. The club had four athletes in action. While most people struggled with losing an hour in bed three of the club athletes were in action at 10am. This meant an early start with the clock changing for three of the athletes.

Niamh Brady took her place in the under 13 girls High Jump competition and jumped 1.25M. At the same time Ronan Deery and Dean Murtagh were in action in the under 13 boys shot putt competition. Ronan threw 9.31 and Dean threw 7.61. All three represented the club with pride and although not in the medals on the day these three athletes have bright futures in athletics and the experience of competing in the national competition which they qualified for from the Leinster Championships will hold them in good stead for the future.

In the afternoon the club’s brightest talent Gabriel Bell was in action in the boys under 17 Long jump. Unfortunately for Gabriel it was just one of those days were nothing went right and a below par jump of 4.84. Gabriel knows that if he had performed to his capabilities as he has done many times in big competition that he would have won gold but this fine athlete will now concentrate on regaining his jumping form for the outdoor season.

Next week the indoor season will come to a close and the club will once again be represented by Niamh Brady, Ronan Deery and Sean Allen in the U13 60m Hurdles and Gabriel Bell in the 200M.

On Sunday three of the St Peter’s athletes made the short journey to Carrickmacross for the Carrick Aces juvenile races which preceded their 5k run. Mark Litchfield had a brilliant performance in both the 100M sprint and the 800m middle distance race by running very impressively in both to land double Gold medals. Jack McLaughlin had a fantastic race to win the boys under 12 500M race and was joined on the podium by his club mate Conor Litchfield who ran very well to finish in second place. This is no more than these three athletes deserve for their dedication and effort in training and hopefully will give them confidence going into the outdoor track season.

On Saturday club veteran Andrew Rogers took part in the inaugural 5k run in aid of St Oliver’s Hospital which was a very well-organised event in aid of a very good cause, Andrew finished well up the field with a time of 22:18.

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14 March 2017

On Friday last the St Peter’s club held their annual awards night to recognise the achievements of their athletes in the 2016 season. The night commenced when chairperson Brendan Rogers addressed the large gathering and welcomed athletes, supporters and parents to the event. In particular he welcomed any new athletes who had just joined for the coming season and congratulated all the athletes on their achievements on the past season.

The first presentations were to the three gold national medallists – Conor Durnin for Triple Jump, Emily Rogers for High Jump and Katie Murphy for Shot Putt.

The juvenile track and field awards were divided into over and under sixteen sections. The under sixteen track and field award went to Niamh Brady and the boys under sixteen went to Rory McLoughlin. The most improved girl track and field award went to Ava Brennan and the boys’ award went to Harry O’Reilly. The over sixteen boys’ award went to Gabriel Bell and the girls’ award went to Katie Murphy.

The cross country awards went to Lucy Smyth for most improved girl and to Ben McKeown for most improved boy. The victorious boys under eleven cross country team were also recognised for their achievements. The team consisted of Jack McLaughlin, Harry O’Reilly, Conor Litchfield and Padraic Tinnelly.

These awards were then followed by the perpetual awards. The first was the jumps award which again went to Gabriel Bell, while the throws award went to Katie Murphy. The Richardson Shield was awarded to the hard working Judith Bell and the Maria Mackin trophy went to the ever improving Ellie Smyth. The Angela McDonald trophy was awarded to Dean Murtagh for his efforts in both Track and Field and Cross Country.

The Master Athlete of the year went to Brendan Rogers for his various achievements in 2016. The penultimate award of the night was for club person of the year which went to Dearbhla Allen for her dedication to training and events and her brilliant attitude.

The final award of the night was for overall athlete of the year which went to Tom McGrane who is a shining example to all the younger athletes. The trophy, which was presented by Patsy Carroll, was donated by the Carroll family in memory of former St Peter’s athlete and Irish Olympian Noel Carroll.

There was further good news for Tom, and indeed his son and fellow St Peter’s shot putter Martin McGrane, who received confirmation that he now holds the world record in deadlifting for his age category 18-19 year olds by lifting 252.5kg in the 82.5kg weight category. Martin, who is also a keen shot putter as well as a powerlifter, will hopefully put his strength to good use when competing for the St Peter’s club in the near future.

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7 March 2017

On Sunday last the fantastic AIT arena hosted the National Masters’ Indoor Championships. Tom McGrane was the sole representative for the St Peter’s club. Tom, who is always willing and able to fly the St Peter's club flag, made the journey to Athlone. This was Tom’s first time to compete in the National Masters’ as, in the past and currently, he competes at senior level. Tom, who turned 54 last week, threw a season's best of 10.06m in the shot putt to land a bronze medal to add to the silver medal he won last week in the Leinster Championships.

The indoor championships continue over the next few weekends with the various juvenile events. The club have a number of athletes who have qualified and all are currently preparing for their events with great effort at training.

This Friday night the club will celebrate the achievements during 2016. The function will take place in the Joe’s Clubrooms and will commence at 7.30 pm sharp. It is hoped all athletes, parents and supporters will be in attendance.

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