Ojewumi and Adeleke top the podium for Tallaght
JOSEPH Ojewumi and Rhasidat Adeleke were both in flying form for Tallaght AC at the National Senior Indoor Athletics Championships in Abbotstown on Sunday.
Following a comfortable win in his heat of the 60m sprint on Saturday with a time of 7.01, 20-year-old Ojewumi took his place in the semi finals on Sunday morning where he again crossed the line first with a strong time of 6.81.
Rhasidat Adeleke of Tallaght AC
He stepped up to the plate for the final a few hours later and battled for the lead until the closing few strides when he surged to the title with another European Championship qualifying time of 6.78.
As this was his second time in the past few weeks to achieve the standard he was rewarded with selection to represent Ireland in the European Indoors which will be held in Glasgow from March 1-3.
Rhasidat Adeleke, meanwhile, took her place in her first ever Senior Championship and qualified comfortably through her heat of the Senior Women’s 200m in first place with a time of 24.30.
The following afternoon the 16-year-old was drawn on the outside in Lane Six and shot from the blocks to quickly establish a lead that she held to the finish line, crossing in a season’s best of 24.13.
Five other Tallaght athletes contested the Men’s 60m heats on Saturday with Eoin Doherty, Timmy Bada and Simon Essuman qualifying for Sunday’s semi-finals with strong times of 7.02., 7.10 and 7.16 respectively while Joseph Finnegan Murphy and Michael Ogunsiakan who finished third and fifth in their respective heats just missed out on the cut.
Doherty had to withdraw from the semis on Sunday with Bada and Essuman finishing fifth and sixth respectively, the former setting a new personal best time of 7.02 and Essuman clocking 7.21, but neither made the final cut.
Sarah Doyle finished fourth in her 200m semi-final where she recorded a time of 27.68.
Elsewhere in Seville, Spain on Sunday a number of Tallaght men contested the Zurich Sevilla Mara-thon with David Fitz- patrick recording a very good time of 2hrs 37 minutes.
He was followed home by David Callaghan (2.40), Seanie Carton (2.51) and David O’ Callaghan (2.57).
A number of Tallaght ladies lined out in the Scottish Masters Indoor Championships in Glasgow where Michelle Metcalfe won silver in the W35 200m and Anita Carruth did likewise in the W40 400m while Deirdre Harris won bronze in the W50 category.
The club’s juvenile athletes who qualified in the recent Dublin Indoor Championships will be preparing themselves for the National Finals taking place in Athlone on March 30/31 and April 6 while and a group of seniors will be doing likewise for the National Indoor Masters, also being held in Athlone on March 10.
