Outstanding weekend for Tullamore Harriers

James Mulligan joined an ever growing list of Tullamore Harriers athletes who have gained international honours when he was selected for the Schools International Athletic Board Track and Field Championship which will take place in Cardiff next month. James took part in the Aviva Tailteann Games Interprovincial on Saturday and won the Discus event with an excellent throw of 39.91, he also came 4th in both the Shot (13.55) and the Hammer (49.34). His selection to represent Ireland is just reward for this exceptional young athlete and we congratulate him and wish him continued success. A profile of James will appear in this paper shortly. Dunne and Curley are All Ireland champions Saturday proved to be an outstanding day for Tullamore Harriers as four juveniles travelled to Templemore in Tipperary for the All Ireland Track and Field finals for the Under 11, 10 and 11 age grades. In these ages there are no individual competitions rather athletes compete as pairs and their combined time or distance is used to award medals to the best pairs. James Dunne and Emmett Curley are both diligent trainers and all their hard work paid off on Saturday when the pair won the boys under 11 600m. All Ireland champions at a young age but from the serious way both take the sport this is the first title of many to come. This combination of Curley and Dunne had earlier combined in the under 11 sprint and although they didn't win a medal they can rightly be proud of their seventh place finish in an All Irelands. In the boys under 9 300m Cormac Egan and Daire McDaid competed bravely and were unlucky to only miss out on medals by three seconds. Junior and U/23 Championship The mixture of sunshine and high calibre of athletics last Sunday in the Tullamore Harriers made the Woodie's DIY National Junior & U23s Championships a day that will remain firmly in most spectators' minds. The first athlete on the track was Lauren Dunne, who ran just outside of her PB to qualify for the final of the Junior Women's 100 metres in an extremely competitive field. In the longer sprints, Stephen Kelly qualified easily for the final of the Junior Men's 400m but finished outside of the medals in a time of 51.65 Alan Whelan also ran strongly in the U23 race and qualified for the final with a time of 51.19. Liam Brady came 3rd in a time of 16.08 in the Junior Men's 5000m. Eoin Hannon was the first field athlete in action, and he managed to place 3rd in the U23 Men's Long Jump with a leap of 7.28m, which is a particularly good result considering he has been plagued by injury for the best part of the year. Darragh Hanlon then represented the club in both the Junior Men's Discus and Shot Putt, in which he placed 4th and 5th respectively. James Mulligan finished off an exceptional weekend as he stepped up to compete against athletes much older than himself in the Junior Men's 35lb Weight for Distance, and threw well to place 4th with 7.55. His brother Joseph added to the club's medal count when he placed 2nd in the same event at U23 level.