Cushinstown Athletic Club

There was great excitement today at Day 4 of the Leinster Indoor Championships in the National Indoor Arena, Abbotstown. There was a packed stadium for the very competitive relay races and we had seven teams taking part taking part.
All the teams ran brilliantly especially as for many this was their first time competing in the Leinster Championships and in the tough 4 x 200m race. Well done to all the athletes and thanks to all the coaches and helpers. The U15 girls team of Ella Barry, Laura Bolster, Isabella Gogan, Roisin McManus and Aoife Rohan ran brilliantly in their heat getting through to the finals where they ran a fantastic race to finish in third place. All the other relay teams put in great performances and were unfortunate to miss out on getting through to the finals but they all gained valuable experience. The U12 athletes all ran brilliantly on their first outing in Abbotstown. The U12 girls team included Anna Dardis, Jane McDermott, Mia Heagney and Nessa Rohan. The U12 boys team included Peter Bellew, Barry Lenehan, Jack McGinn, Kenny Kileen, Evan Hoey and Kyle Hetherton. The U13 girls team included Ruby Hartford, Nicole Hoey, Doireann Power and Trudy Power, the U13 boys team included Kevin Doyle, Luke McAleese, Jyles Gogan, John Dardis and Conaill Deehan.  Competing in the U14 boys team were James Bellew, Lee Callaghan, Conor and David McCloskey. The U14 girls team included April Andrews, Ruby Hartford, Nia Hetherton and Aoife Rohan. Also taking place today was the U19 shot putt event and Aoife Jane Lenehan gave some great throws to claim the bronze medal. Aine O’Sullivan was also competing in the U17 shot putt and high jump event where she threw and jumped very well coming fifth in both events.

On Saturday the 16th and Sunday the 17th of February three of our senior team athletes represented the club at the National Senior Indoor Championships in the National Indoor Arena in Abbotstown. Niall Flanagan competed in the 400m where he came fourth in his heat with a time of 52.53s just missing out on the final. Donal Kearns came sixth in the long jump with a jump of 6.26m and Michael O’Sullivan came fourth in the shot put with a throw of 10.97m.

It was a very busy weekend for our juvenile athletes and their supporters who travelled to Athlone this weekend for Day 1 and 2 of the Leinster Indoor Juvenile Championships. We had 19 athletes competing on both days and they all put in some great performances coming away with a worthy selection of medals and personal bests. A number of our younger athletes were competing for the first time at these Leinster Indoor Championships gaining valuable competition experience, well done to you all. James Bellew jumped very well in the U14 boys high jump to win the gold medal with a pb jump of 1.49m. Lee Callaghan also jumped very well in the U14 high jump and put in some great throws in the U14 shot putt coming fourth in both events. Aoife Rohan jumped brilliantly in the U14 girls high jump to win the silver medal with another pb jump of 1.48m. Aoife also qualified for the 60mHurdles final and came 7th overall.
The U15 girls were in winning form with Laura Bolster claiming the gold medal in both the long jump and 60m sprints. Ella Barry claimed the gold medal with a brilliant performance in the 60m Hurdles, she also jumped very well in the long jump. Loclainn Harris ran very well in the very competitive U15 60m sprint coming 5th overall and jumped well in the long jump, he competed brilliantly to qualify for the 60mHurdle final and went on to claim the silver medal. The U16 girls were also in great competing form with Amy Callaghan winning the gold in the shot putt, silver in the high jump, and jumping well in the long jump. Niamh Quinn ran brilliantly to win the silver medal in the 60m Hurdles, she also came 4th in the shot putt. Mollie White jumped brilliantly in the long jump to claim the bronze medal. Both Mollie and Abi Sheehy ran very well in the very competitive 200m,  Abi also jumped very well in the long jump coming 5th overall. Amy Bellew threw well in the shot coming 5th overall. In the U13 age group Nicole Hoey ran very well in the girls 600m. Nia Hetherton jumped very well in the high jump coming 4th overall, she also threw well in the shot putt and put in a great performance in the 60mHurdles. Doireann Power also ran very well in both the 60m sprints and the 60mHurdles and put in some great jumps in the long jump.
Roisin Quinn and Jane Mc Dermott both threw very well in the U12 girls shot putt with Roisin doing some great throws to come fourth overall. Jane also jumped very well in the U12 high jump coming 6th overall. The U12 boys also competed very well in their first Leinster competitions with Peter Bellew competing in the high jump, Evan Hoey in the long jump and the 600m and Kenny Killeen in the long jump. Well done to everyone.

Three of our senior team athletes recently represented their respective universities at the IUAA Intervarsity Indoor Championships in Athlone Institute of Technology on Friday the 8th of February. Zoe Mohan, who represented Dublin City University (DCU) competed in the weight for distance where she came first with a throw of 7.87m. Zoe also competed in the shot put where she threw 9.28m to come sixth. Donal Kearns competed in the combined events for the University of Limerick …(UL) where he came third with a total score of 2843 points. Michael O’Sullivan represented University College Dublin in the shot put where he came fifth with a throw of 10.79m. Our athletes performances greatly helped boost their respective universities overall team points score with the DCU ladies team coming first overall while UCD’s and UL’s men’s teams came second and fourth respectively.