Huge Athlete Turnout
The Dublin Indoor Championships have just completed and it was a big success for Clongriffin Athletic Club with 74 athletes competing across the five days of competition. The Indoor Arena with it’s blue track, banked bends and stands packed with crowds provides an electric atmosphere and all athletes will have gained valuable experience whether they won, lost, had close calls or falls or were simply just proud of themselves for stepping on the line for the first time and competing. The athletes competed in a wide range of events including 60m sprint, 60m hurdles, Long Jump, High Jump, Shot Putt, Middle Distance and Relays.
Sprints & Hurdles
These events had our biggest representation of athletes across two days. In total we had seven finalists with Sarah, Orlaith, Ella, Tristain, Ben, Oscar and Sophia all making their finals. Sarah claimed silver in the Gu9 60m while Orlaith took home the gold in the Gu10 60m. There were very close calls for both Ella (Gu12 60m) and Ben (Bu13 60m Hurdles), both losing out on a medal by just 0.02 seconds.
Middle Distance
Day 4 saw middle distances races, ranging from 300m for u9 up to 600m for u13. Orlaith completed a double gold by winning the Gu10 400m while Sarah (Gu9) and Ella (Gu12) were just outside the medals in 4th. Sarah (Gu12) had a great run to make the 600m final while Keane can count himself very unlucky not to make the Bu13 600m final after being drawn in a very fast heat.
Jumps & Throws
The fields events provided great drama with Sophie Winkless winning the club our first High Jump medal. In a very tight contest, Sophie came out as Dublin Champion, winning on countback. After two 4th places in the 60m and 600m, Ella finally claimed that elusive medal with a bronze in the Gu12 Long Jump. At pretty much the same time, Marianne was overcoming her disappointment of falling in the hurdles, by taking a brillant silver medal in the Gu14 Long Jump. Sarah, Gu12 Long Jump, and Oscar, Bu13 Shot Putt, also made their finals while Kevin in the Bu15 Long Jump lost out on a medal by just 4cm.
Relays
The final day was relays and they didn’t disappoint with huge crowds and non-stop action keeping everyone entertained. Clongriffin had 12 teams enterted among the 345 teams from all over Dublin. All relays were 4 x 200m with heats required to see which 6 teams would then compete in the Final.
The morning action saw the Even Ages and Clongriffin got off to a great start with both of the Gu10 teams qualifying for the final. The Gu12 followed with one of our teams also making the Final. All teams performed brilliantly and the baton practice they have all been focused on in recent weeks really helped.
In the Finals, the Girls U10 claimed Silver and Bronze, a pretty rare occurrence for one club to have two teams on the podium in a relay. So well done to Niamh, Mya, Monika, Zara, Amelia, Sarah, Orlaith and Lucy.
The Girls U12 claimed a very exciting bronze in their final in a very competitive age group. The team of Sarah, Sophie, Ava and Ella ran a super race, moving into 3rd place at just the right time off the last bend.
A big well done to all teams with a great team effort.
Gu10: Niamh, Mya, Monika, Zara, Amelia, Sarah, Orlaith & Lucy
Bu10: Daniel, Ruben, Joe, Charlie
Gu11: Aislinn, Nikita, Eve & Emily
Gu12: Sarah, Sophie, Ava, Ella, Hannah, Liliya, Emma & Sophie
Bu12: Ozie, Charlie, Adam, Akim
Gu13: Anabel, Liliya, Lauren & Aoife
Bu13: Jaden, Ben, Dylan & Keane
Gu14: Kate, Mia, Ciara, Marianne
Bu15: Zac, Paul, Kevin, Rian
Clongriffin AC 