Darragh McNamara claims All-Ireland 400 metre title

Through wind, rain, scorching sunbursts and cold snaps, Tullamore Harriers athletes battled through the conditions on Saturday and Sunday last to achieve some notable success in the Woodie's DIY Juvenile Track & Field Championships in Tullamore Harriers Stadium. Darragh McNamara probably had the best weekend of all. His victory in the under-19 400m is his first national title and it was one he won in emphatic style. In wet and windy conditions early on Sunday morning Darragh was always in clear control of the race and in the last hundred metres moved into an extra gear and glided well clear of his competition to win in 50.56. In the same race, Sean Donegan ran a season's best 53.03 to come fifth and Stephen Flynn was eight. The other sprint medal over the weekend went to Dean Power who ran a blistering 100m into a slight headwind to gain another new personal best of 11.20 and an All-Ireland silver medal to boot. Other sprinters who performed well were Emma Darby, Eoin Delaney and Patrick Heffernan. In the longer distance races there were two medals won, both in the girls under-17 age group. On Saturday, Nicole Cuskelly took silver in the 2000m Steeplechase, her first national medal on the track. Eileen Rafter on the Sunday ran a season's best in the 800m to come second in 2.18:55. Eileen's younger sister Claire came seventh in the under-13 girls 600m in 1.52, while Chinnie Izuchukwu ran a personal best of 9.50 in the 3000m under-16. In the Long Jump there were only two Harriers competing. Christopher Whittle, in the boys under-13 event, jumped out to a career best 4.75 metres to get the bronze medal and was in fact only 2cm off silver. Meanwhile Anne Marie Molloy jumped 4.26 metres in the girls under-15 long jump to come 14th. James Mulligan came home with a silver medal in the Shot Putt with a fine throw of 14.46 metres, while he was narrowly beaten into fourth in the Hammer throw. His brothers Eoin and Connor both threw well in Hammer and Shot Putt competitions.