Tallaght athletes top the podium at National Championships
TALLAGHT athletes Sean O’Donnell and Gloria Oigbouchie topped the podium at the National Juvenile T&F Championships in Tullamore last weekend.
On a weekend that was indeed a super weekend for the club, which saw Rhasidat Adeleke finish 5th in a field that included the top 200m runners in the World at the Wanda Diamond League in London where she ran a seasons best time of 22.35 in what will most likely be her last outing in preparing for the Paris Olympics next month, and in particular for Sean O’Donnell who obliterated the previous U17 100m National record of 11.01 when winning in a superb time of 10.74 seconds, to add to the individual100m (11.12) bronze and 4X100m relay silver medals he won the previous day at the Schools International in Cardiff.
Club mate Dubem Amah also smashed the previous record in the U17 100m when claiming silver in a time of 10.86.
Gloria Oigbochie also topped the podium after she stormed to victory in the U18 100m final in a time of 12.25, with Joanna Shodipo finishing 6th in 12.71.
There were other medal successes for the club, with Brianna Dwyer Carty taking silver (12.32) in the U17 100m and Ailin Geraghty bronze in the U18 400m with a time of 50.61 seconds, while Joanna Shodipo, Emani Asogba, Ellie Carruth and Gloria Oigbochie combined to win bronze in both the U18 & U19 4X100m relays.
Sean O’Donnell and Dubem Amah, 100m gold and silver
Others who competed well at the National Juvenile Championships included, Abdullahi Adeleke who finished 5th in the U16 100m final, Kamal Oresayna 3rd in his U16 100m heat with a time of 11.68, Matilda Porcu 4th in her U17 100m heat (12.93), Ellie Carruth, 4th in her U18 100m heat (13.31), and Emani Asogba, 5th in her U18 100m heat (13.87), while Olivia Groome ran well in the U16 100m at the B Championships on Saturday.
Elsewhere, at the Bio Freeze Irish Runner 10 Mile Road Race Championships in the Phoenix Park, Tomas Fitzpatrick, in his first competitive event for over a year, finished a very creditable 11th place in a field of 1781 finishers in a time of 00:53.31, with Kahumburuka Tuahuka next to finish for the club in 47th (00:57.16), followed by Joe Pepper 01:13.18, Berta Quinonero (01:26.22), Patrick Sinnott (01:29.21).
Brianna Dwyer Carty, U17 100m silver
And the previous Wednesday, at the Dublin Graded Meet in Lucan Kourrini knocked almost ten seconds off his previous best time when winning the grade C 800m contest in a time of 2:00.90, while Jack Kelly recorded a time of 1:52.06 in the Grade A 800m.
There will again be lots of interest at Day 3 of the National Juvenile Championships in Tullamore next weekend where several Tallaght athletes will be vying for more podium success.
