No Medals But Big Performance At All-Ireland Multi Events

The club’s growing multi-events group had a big day out at the All-Ireland Multi Event championships in NIA today.

Marianne has been leading the charge at multi events for a couple of years now and it was exciting for her to be joined by Sarah and Liliya today for their debuts.

Marianne was involved in a titanic battle all day and after the five events just lost out on a podium place despite a stirring run in the 800m.

Sarah had a day of days and with three PBs she was just outside the medals going into the 800m but despite a brave run she just came up short of the medals.

Liliya had four PBs, including a standout 1.39m in the High Jump, and she finished 9th overall, her best ever performance for the Club.

In the end two 4th places and one 9th was a great outcome with club multi-events coach, Cliodhna, saying ‘it was super to see three of the girls so competitive all day at All-Ireland level’.

Earlier in the week, Ella qualified for the Leinster Schools Cross-Country after a strong 7th place in the North Leinster Schools in Phoenix Park.

Strong Start At Dublins Day 1

It was a strong start to the Dublin Indoor Championship in NIA today for our older athletes.

Karlo Sremec set the day up with a great PB and silver medal in the Boys U18 Shot Putt. At the same time the 200m were underway with both Patryk Putek and Alicja Doyle making their finals. Patryk eventually finished 6th in his final while Alicja was 5th in hers.

The hurdles had a big contingent of athletes and in total we had five finalists. Hanna Kacperska showed great composure to firstly qualify for the Girls u13 final after some hurdle technical issues and again in the final to come from 8th to 4th in the final 30m. This qualifies Hanna for the All-Irelands.

The Girls u14 hurdlers were next up and all three girls progressed to the final. In it, Sophie Winkless took Gold, Sarah O’Farrell the Silver and Liliya Riecka was 8th, all running personal bests.

The Girls u16 hurdles saw Marianne O’Farrell take bronze in a very exciting race.

It was also a big long jumping day and it was double gold in the U16 age groups with Patryk Putek winning the Boys and Marianne O’Farrell winning the Girls. Also in the Long Jump a great breakthrough for Lily Nadolinska who made the final with a big PB in her last jump.

Aside from the medalists and finalist, there were many more PBs, close calls and good performances across the board. Thanks as ever to the coaching team and Parents who volunteered as officials today.

Sophie Winkless & Sarah O’Farrell

Club Awards 2023

Cross-Country Team of the Year

The Boys U11. Adam, Alex, Etienne, Ruben, Olly, Freddie, Leon.

5th in the Dublin Cross-Country Team event, only 8 points off qualifying for the All-Irelands.

Track Team of the Year

The Girl U11. Mya, Zara, Lucy, Niamh, Orlaith, Sara, Viola, Sara, Ellie, Amelia, Tess, Sarah.

2nd in the Dublins and 3rd in the All-Ireland Relays. A big squad of 12 athletes.

Club Spirit

Awarded to athletes to the Coaches feel best demonstrate the spirit of the Club, having fun, training hard, being respectful, challenging themselves. This award transcends results, focuses on the actions and attitude of the athlete.

Melanie, Rian, Freddie and Cillian

Most Improved Athletes

From 2013 upwards. Awarded to athletes who coaches feel have improved the most in competitions this season.

Ruben, Eva and Meabh

Age Group Athletes of the Year

Awarded to athletes based on scoring system from the Dublin and All-Ireland Championships in the season. Top 3 athletes are nominated with some ages having 4 athletes due to a tie-on points.

Ask the lead coaches in each age group to help present these

U9  

Luzia, Maddy, Sam (Winner)

U10

Evan, Mikey, Tess, Sarah (Winner)

U11

Mya, Niamh, Olly, Orlaith (Winner)

U12

Hania, Hassan, Max, Danny (Winner)

Danny (Winner)

U13

Ella, Liliya, Sarah (Winner)

U14

Aoife, Benn, Keane (Winner)

U15

Alicja, Patryk, Marianne (Winner)

U16 & U17 Winner:

Karlo

Athlete of the Year 

Marianne wins AoY. Her performance for her club were:

  • Dublin Champion at Long Jump, High Jump and 250m Hurdles.
  • Bronze medallist at All-Ireland Multi Events.
  • Recently competed for Ireland at the School International in Wales.

Cross Country Grand Prix

Last weekend’s uneven age All Irelands in Navan brought Clongriffin’s 2023 Cross Country season to a close. Since the beginning of September, the 2013 & older athletes have taken part in the club cross country program and have all shown huge improvements over the last few months. Club records were broken for numbers of individual participants, number of teams entering, amount of muck brought home and litres of hot chocolate consumed. It was wet, mucky, and more recently cold but fun the whole way through.

In the end the fantastic squad of athletes competed across the three leagues and the Dublin championships with some even representing the club in All-Ireland relays and individual events.

The club cross country grand prix began in September to promote and encourage

  • Commitment to Training
  • Giving Racing A Go
  • Achieving Goals

The system awarded 1 point for a distance training session attended (Sunday and some Fridays) and 3 points for competing in one of the 4 Dublin races (3 leagues and a championship). A target was set for the athletes to go after and all who achieved that score receive an award and go into the pot to win one of our two athlete goody bags.

Congratulations to the following athletes who all surpassed the threshold…

Lilya, Leon, Arthur, Ruben, Max, Freddie, Finn, Lucy, Orlaith, Niamh, Ava, Amelia, Ella, Olivia & Olly.

And a special mention and award goes to those who got close…Eva, Victoria, Oran, Adam, Hassan, Alex, Etiene and Cillian.

Awards will be given to all the above athletes and the prize draw will be made this weekend for the goody bags.

Academy

And our Academy athletes also made their debuts in cross-country this season. Porridge fueled frosty mornings, loads of commitment at training and a great team spirit built up over the winter.

Well done to Luzia, Maddie, Melanie, Denis, Marina, Sam, Lorenzo, Rian, Evan, Quinn, Mateo and Sarah.

Orlaith And Olly With Big All-Ireland Cross Debuts

It was cold and foggy in Navan for the uneven ages All-Ireland Cross-Country with Orlaith and Olly both competing in the u11 races.

First up was Orlaith who get away to a great start at the front of the 137 athlete field. A slip at the first main switch back saw Orlaith lose some ground but great composure over the middle part of the race saw her claw back several places to finish 26th. Orlaith was the third Dublin finisher and with the Dublin team second in the Inter-County Competition, she claimed her first All-Ireland Cross-Country medal.

Orlaith Navigating The Tricky Downhill Section

Next up was Olly and he too set himself up brilliantly, getting in contention also right from the start. He maintained his position throughout the race and at the halfway mark was in a strong Top 30 position. With a tough uphill section to the finish, athletes could lose several places quite easily but Olly dug deep to come home in 28th. He too was 3rd Dublin athlete home with the Dublin team placing 5th in the Inter-County Championships.

Olly Pushing Hard Mid Race

International Honours For Marianne

A big day for Marianne today in Wales when she made her debut for the Irish Schools team in the Schools Combined Events International. This International Meet sees the four best multi event athletes from each of Ireland, Scotland, Wales and England competing. Marianne was competing with girls who were mostly a year older, so a tremendous achievement.

She acquitted herself brilliantly getting three PBs in the five events. First up was a 4.99m Long Jump followed quickly by 9.73 in the 60m Hurdles with the PB hattrick sealed with 1.50m in the High Jump. The afternoon saw the Shot Putt and 800m and while she didn’t hit the dizzy PB heights of the morning she closed out a very impressive international debut.

Sometimes the challenges with a first international, the travel overseas, staying overnight in hotels and the nerves can be overwhelming for a young athletes so the fact that Marianne managed all that and performed so well makes her debut even more impressive.

Well done also to Marianne’s coach, Cliodhna, and all the specialist event coaches who have been working hard with all the athletes over the winter.

Marianne with Ireland teammates Ruby, Emma & Ella Kate.

Dublin Cross Country League Results

Sunday saw the third and last round of the Dublin League in Tymon Park. Great commitment for the athletes over the past few months with many athletes making their debut in cross-country and competing in all the rounds.

Selection of some of the League Finishing positions across the ages (most age groups will have 80 competing).

Bu9: Denis 20th

Bu10: Quinn 9th

Bu11: Olly 4th, Leon 18th

Bu12: Max 3rd,

Bu13: Arthur 20th

Gu9: Melanie 16th

Gu10: Sarah 3rd

Gu11: Orlaith 4th

Gu13: Ella 8th, Liliya 12th

The U11 & U12 Teams

Silver For Marianne At Irish Schools

Marianne had a super day at today’s Irish Schools Pentathlon Championship in Athlone finishing 2nd overall and getting three new PBs along the way.

First up was the 60m hurdles and Marianne dipped under 10 seconds for the first time, clocking a new PB of 9.88. Next up was the Long Jump and a 4.85, just off her PB and in the last round. A solid high jump of 1.45 meant Marianne was now in silver medal position.

But with the Shot Putt to come and it not being her strongest event it was all still to play for. But again, a super last throw saw a nearly 1.5m PB with 9.17 in the Shot Putt.

The day closed out with a gutsy 800m and again new PB of 2:26.75, taking nearly 5 seconds off her old best.

But performances in competitions don’t happen overnight and Marianne has been diligently working hard in training the last few months and today got her just rewards, a fine role model to all our younger athletes.

Marianne Training Hard On The Hills In Fr Collins Park Last Month

Battling Bronze For Danny In All-Ireland XC

Danny was rewarded with a brilliant bronze medal at today’s All-Ireland U12 Cross-Country Championships in a very muddy Gowran in Kilkenny.

Danny took the lead from the gun and set a fast pace in early stages. This broke up the field quickly and at the halfway mark the major medals were down to just five athletes. A break by the Moy Valley spread the field even more as the athletes entered the final winding section of the course.

A big battle over the final stages saw Danny just hold off the Sligo athletes to finish in 3rd individual. Considering there were 167 of the best young athletes in Ireland competing, this was a great performance.

Danny also led home the Dublin County team which finished 2nd in the County team race.