Woodie’s DIY AAI Junior Indoor Track & Field Championships of Ireland

Friday, January 14th, 2011

Saturday January 15th – Nenagh.

Some of Ireland finest young athletic talent will be competing for national honours in tomorrow’s Woodie’s DIY AAI Junior Indoor Championships in the Nenagh Indoor Stadium in County Tipperary.

This will be the first opportunity for many of the entrants to see how their winter training is progressing in their chosen events in 2011 and to get in some much needed national competition against their junior peers in the highly competitive U20 age category.

A packed programme of events is listed for the day on both the track and in the field.

The action gets underway at 11.00 AM with women’s Long Jump and concludes with the men’s 400m final at 16.15 PM. In between the competitors from all four corners of Ireland will looking to push themselves to national honours in a range of disciplines from the 60m to the 1500m on the track, and the Shot Putt to the High Jump in the infield.

All athletes will be looking to set good opening heights, distances or times and kick start their 2011 seasons with positive performances at these Junior Championships, with some hoping to progress their form to peak at next month’s Woodie’s DIY Senior Irish Indoor Track Field Championships at the Odyssey Arena in Belfast.

All of the events tomorrow promise spectators and supporters some real quality competition.

In the men’s 60m Paul Whelan (Dublin Striders AC) will be looking to put a good run against the likes of Edmund O’Halloran (Leevale AC) and Patrick O’Connor (Clonliffe Harriers). The men’s 400m will be as always very competitive with Patrick Maher (Leevale AC) expected to perform well against athletes like the young and talented Karl Griffin (Tir Chonaill AC). The men’s and women’s middle-distance events likewise should prove exciting races, with athletes of the calibre of Dean Cronin (Blarney/Inniscara AC), Liam Markham (Ennis Track AC), Niamh Kearney and Claire Earls (both Sli Cualann AC) hoping to outrun their opponents in the 800m 1500m events.

Fresh from breaking her own Irish junior record for 3,000m with a time of 13:10.86 last weekend in the Munster Indoor Championship, West Waterford’s Kate Veale will be competing in the women’s 3km Walk again against, among others, Maeve Curley (Craughwell AC) and Emma Prendiville (Farrenfore Maine Valley AC).

In the women’s field events, we can look forward to catching many rising young stars, such as Mary Kate Lannigan of Kilkenny City Harriers in the High Jump, Sarah McCarthy (Fingallians AC) in the Long Jump, Sarah Buggy (St Abban’s AC) in the Triple Jump and Laura McSweeney (Bandon AC) in the Shot Putt.

In the men’s field events, we can expect decent performances from the likes of Conor Daly (St Abban’s AC) in the High Jump, Simon Doyle (St L O’Toole AC) in the Long Jump, Eoin O’Carroll (Tralee Harriers AC) in the Triple Jump and Andrew Doyle (Mid-Ulster AC) in the Shot Putt.

With highly anticipated sprints and sprint hurdles events promised too, the Woodie’s DIY AAI Junior Indoor Track Field Championships of Ireland should be a day of high-class athletics competition in Nenagh.

Athletes and club officials should be aware that late entries will be accepted on the day – BUT ONLY BETWEEN 10am and 11am.

junior-indoor-championships-2011-timetable