Raftery and O’Loughlin occupy top two spots in Dublin 800m thriller
DONORE Harriers boasted the top two finishers in the Under 18 Boys 800m Final on Day Two of the Dublin Juvenile Track and Field Championships in Santry on Friday, June 8.
Indeed Jack Raftery made a late surge to overtake his clubmate Louis O’Loughlin for the win in a new personal best time of 1.53.6, knocking three seconds of his previous best and missing the European qualifying mark by just one-tenth of a second.
Jack Raftery produced a late surge to win the Dublin 800m title
Clondalkin man, O’Loughlin, having already achieved the qualifying time for the European Under 18 Championships in Gyor, Hungary next month, required a good performance after a three-month lay-off through injury.
Raftery, having failed to impress in the All-Ireland Schools Final the previous week due to not being fully recovered from illness, needed a timely boost as he pursues the European qualifying mark in the 400m event.
It was O’Loughlin who made the early break, reaching the half-way point in a blistering 53 seconds with Raftery giving chase, reaching the bell in 54.5 seconds.
The Donore Harriers duo were well ahead of the chasing pack, but the fast-early pace and lack of training took its toll on O’Loughlin and he was overtaken by is training mate as he eventually finished runner-up.
Meanwhile newcomer Simon Murphy (2.07.0) placed seventh in the same race while, earlier in the evening, Sean Kinsella emerged the surprise winner from the Under 15 Boys 800m.
Confidence
He had the confidence to front-run from gun to finish line and his time of 2.12.0 was an improvement of more than three seconds on his previous personal best.
Pre-race favourite Abdel Laadjel (2.05.5) controlled the Under 16 Boys 800m from the front to win his first Dublin title with Sean Kissane (2.16.2) finishing seventh and debutant Eoin Kelehan (2.33.3) 12th.
The other 800m results included: – Oliver Hopkins (2.41.1) 11th in the Under 14 Boys; Ruby Kelly (2.36.5) seventh in the Under 16 Girls and Barney Kelly (2.23.2) fifth in the Under 17 Boys.
Amber Lynch (1.39.8) won the club’s first medal of the evening in the Under 10 Girls 500m in which she comfortably held on for silver after working her way from sixth place with 350 metres remaining.
Other club results were: Under 10 Boys 500m: ninth Hugh David Kelly (1.45.5), 12th Elliott Whelan (1.49.0) and 15th Calum Twomey (1.52.5); Under 11 Girls ‘A’ 600m: 14th Leah Nunan (2.17.2) and 15th Abigail Tolan (2.17.3); Under 11 Girls ‘B’ 600m: 15th Ava Hoare (2.18.5) and 19th Tara Hoare (2.32.6); Under 12 Girls 600m: 10th Eleanor Hopkins (2.12.0); Under 12 Boys 600m: 8th James Dunne (1.54.9).
