U23 Steeplechase Title for Amy Greene at National Championships

The 2024 track and field season wrapped up last weekend in Tullamore and as has been pretty much the norm, the weather was miserable at times, which in the world of track and field doesn’t help. Regardless, Saturday was the opportunity for our U20 and U23 athletes to compete at the National Championships.

Success once again led out by Amy Greene, who took the U23 steeplechase title in what has been a real standout season in both cross country and track for the Dungloe girl, a student at DCU.

Another athlete that has come into his own through the summer season is Oisin Thompson, a student at ATU Donegal, who has been having success and making an impact in the long jump week on week. On this occasion, he added the U23 long jump title to his credits, despite carrying a slight hamstring injury.

Lauren Callaghan bounced back from what was a very disappointing long jump return for her the previous week in the National League, on this occasion winning the long jump. This has been a positive season for her, the highlight of which was the National Senior Championships where she picked up the silver medal just 1cm off the gold.

There was yet another club 100m hurdles record in the U20 age category for Amy Timoney with a time of 15.38 into a minus wind. Also in the junior section, Blaine Lynch (javelin) got his throw out to 51.70 which was good enough to take a bronze in that age group. Both Amy and Blaine are now eligible for the U20 championships next year again.

As with all these performances, including that of Oisin Toye, who picked up a bronze medal in the 1500m U23, credit must go to the dedication of the relevant coaches, Paul Wilkinson, John Rogan, Helen McCready and Shauna Carlin.

It was back to Tullamore again on Sunday on this occasion it was the turn of our Master athletes and this off course is an area of the sport where the Finn Valley AC have impacted to a great degree, both at national and international level for some years. The day began with medal and title winning performances from Sinead McConnell in the walk, taking the gold with a new irish 3k record and Bosco Reid (silver in the shot) who has annually impacted in national masters championships and as the day progressed there were medal performances coming in from Noreen Bonner (gold), Catriona Devine (gold), Kay Byrne (silver and bronze), Gerard Gallagher (bronze), and Leonie Cooke (silver) and yet another strong performance from Garvan Boyce. Also competing in the Masters Championships on this occasion, we welcomed the return to competition of Gerard Doherty. Gerard picked up a medal in the shot and had been off the athletics scene for many years as he is very involved with the development of the local Finn Calley rugby club, in which he is a pivotal influence. Gerard was a national underage champion and it’s good to see him back, accompanied by his wife Jackqueline who also got on our medal list.

As we go to press, all the attention continues to focus on the Olympic games in Paris and on how our own Finn Valley AC athlete Mark English performs.

This completes, as indicated previously, the 2024 season and in a matter of weeks, athletes will return for yet another season. The opening cross country races will be at Finn Valley in mid-September, with schools’ cross country and the annual champions cup, followed by county, provincial and national cross-country championships.

Eimear McCarroll leaves on Monday to take up an athletics scholarship in the USA and all good wishes go with her. Towards the end of the month, Liam McKay will also leave to take up a scholarship at Providence College, Rhode Island and best wishes are extended to him. This is a great opportunity for the development of these young athletes, and we will report from time to time on their progress in the US.

The club will, within the next few days, announce details of the Little Athletics Annual Programme so parents are asked to keep an eye on the Finn Valley AC Facebook page for dates and booking details. Details have been announced of the Annual Remembrance race/walk which will have both a 10k and 5k option. Online booking is now open on the Remembrance 10k/5k Facebook page.