Plenty of stars at All-Ireland event

Plenty of stars at All-Ireland event

10 July 2024

THE 123.com All-Ireland Juvenile Track and Field Championships have got underway in Tullamore, County Offaly for this year. 

The U-9 to U-12 event kicked off the National Championships at the end of June and day one of the U-13 to U-20 events took place this past weekend. 

To get to an All-Ireland at such a young age is an amazing feat, no matter where you end up being placed, the fact you get there is an achievement in itself. 

Of course if you do happen to get a medal to hang around your neck, it is a welcome bonus but the coveted event hoodie is what everyone aims for and can only be earned by qualifying for a national competition.

For Newcastle AC, there was phenomenal success for the club at provincial level across an array of events in all three disciplines seeing a number of the junior athletes qualify for a place in a Tullamore to represent the club at national level. 

Starting with the U-12s, Harry McVeigh did what Harry McVeigh does best; runs his heart out. 

He finished the race and his individual championship season with a new personal best in the U-12 600m. 

His finish alone demonstrated the resilience and power that this young man has as he gave everything to finish in 1.46. 

He took eighth place overall, adding to his outstanding national performances this year, with third place U-11 All-Ireland XC finish, seventh place U-12 All-Ireland XC finish and of course the record breaking and historical win as the youngest competitor to win the NI Primary Schools Cross Country title. 

This has been an unforgettable season for Harry, who has already set clear goals for next season and intends to build on last year’s exceptional achievements across all disciplines. 

Aoife Grant has quietly been growing into throwing events having only taken up the hammer throw last August and already throwing beyond 17m at the 2.5kg weight. 

The avid parkrunner made sure she got another parkrun in the bag before heading to Tullamore on Saturday to take her place in the cage for the U-14 hammer on Sunday. 

Having narrowly missed out on a medal at Ulsters by 20cm, she took to the throwing circle at Tullamore with the same gusto and smile that has embodied her journey to All-Irelands. 

To reach a national competition in her first year of the event shows the talent that she has within this discipline, though it was clear the atmosphere and overwhelming emotions that come with competing at this level impacted her performance though a 13th place finish is an amazing achievement for this young athlete to build on going forward. 

Eve McNamara, at the same time, was trackside preparing for her U-14 75m hurdles competition. 

Having already made the trip this year to Tullamore for the All-Ireland Schools final in the same event, 

Eve was well versed in the competition she was up against and aimed to improve on her schools performance.

Hiding her nerves deep down and keeping them locked up, posed and focused on the eight hurdles in front of her. 

Eve’s training has been focused on speed and getting out of those blocks quickly. She ran a super race and finished third in her heat narrowly missing out on automatic qualification for the final. 

Eve will return to Tullamore the weekend of June 20 to compete as part of the club’s relay team as first anchor in the 4x100m relay and also in the U-14 long jump.

Moving back from the track to the field events, Rónán Grant took to the throwing circle for the first of his two All-Ireland events. 

First up was U-15 discus. 

The confidence that throwing events have given this young man within athletics proves that it is just about finding the right event within the disciplines to allow an athlete to shine. Having put aside the bad weather at Ulsters, Ronan placed 15th against the best the country had to offer.  He will return also for day two to compete in his preferred event in the U-15 hammer throw. 

Later on in the afternoon, Patrick McDaid, fresh from his adventures at the World Youth Skyrunning Championship at Montenegro where he finished 26th overall for Team Ireland, showed his versatility swapping out hundreds of metres of elevation and mountain ridges for seven laps of a flat track and some big barriers to jump over whilst running as fast as you can in the 3000m steeplechase.

It was a sight to behold. Patrick held onto the lead three men for the most part of the race. 

Gaining back time lost on the jumps in the running sections, he powered through every lap and as legs tired he was relentless in ensuring he gave everything he could to his race. 

His finish was strong which was clearly delight and relief that there was no barriers left to clear and no water wings required for the water jump. 

He finished the race in fourth place overall in 10.58. An outstanding performance for this young man who is more at home on the hills than on the track. 

He is an inspiration to the juniors coming behind him demonstrating that there is nothing that you can’t do off the back of a strong athletic base. 

With a bumper weekend of back to back days at Tullamore in a fortnight’s time, the club will continue to be represented at national level as athletes who qualified at Ulsters will make the three-hour trip to embrace the opportunity to do their best within their events.