It was a busy weekend for St Abban’s Athletics Club, with athletes across numerous disciplines representing the Crettyard club.
Ruby Millet was part of a large Irish Team which travelled to Espoo, Finland to compete at the European U-23 Championships this past weekend.
Her competition got underway on Saturday with the qualifying rounds taking place in the Long Jump.
Ruby displayed great form, jumping a new outdoor Pb of 6.42 metres to safely guarantee her place in Sunday’s final.
On Sunday, it was always going to take a huge jump from Ruby to make it into the medals. However it wasn’t to be.
Her best of 6.09m was good enough for 11th place in the final.
She came agonisingly close to a very good mark in the second round, unfortunately her toes were just over the board and it couldn’t be measured.
Her Italian competitor took victory on the day with a huge leap of 6.93m. Ruby should be very proud of her efforts at these championships, once again making another European Final.
She will now turn her attention towards winning the National Long Jump Title in the coming weeks.
AAI Games
Meanwhile, Jack Fenlon’s stock continues to rise in Irish athletics after his performance at the AAI Games.
He won his first National title on Sunday taking gold in the National Junior 3k at games in Santry.
In the early stages of the 3k, Jack sat behind the leaders. 4 athletes managed to break away from the rest of the field as they entered the final 1km of the race.
With 600m to go 2 athletes made attempts at injecting pace, but when Jack kicked with 400m to go the result was never in doubt.
In a very astute performance he crossed the line in 8:26 for victory, he even found time to celebrate coming up the home straight.
In the Senor Women’s High Jump, Daena Kealy took victory with a clearance at 1.70m.
In the Triple Jump Saragh also claimed a gold medal after jumping 12.58m.
Back on the track, Jamie Pender ran 22:09 for 200m while Cian Kelly finished in 9th in the 800m after running 1:58.
Lastly in the Master Men O60-69 Heavy Hammer (20lbs), John Territ finished 1st after throwing 12.27m.
National Combined Championships
Well done to both Katie Harnett and Katie Baldwin who were in action at the National Combined Events this weekend at the newly refurbished Morton Stadium.
Both girls put in excellent performances under very challenging conditions. In the Girls under 14, Katie Hartnett finished 7th. Katie Baldwin had a super performance in the Girls under 18 where she took the gold medal.
Fit4Life Finale
The final stage of the Fit4Life League will take place at the track in Monavea on Wednesday, July 19.
The top 5 in both the Men’s and Women’s categories will be presented on the night. Registration will take place from 6:30pm with the race commencing at 7:30pm sharp.
The club would like to extend a huge thank you to all those who have helped at each of the stages of this year’s Fit4Life.
“Many thanks to Pauline and her team who ensure the events runs efficiently throughout the summer months.”
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