WEEKEND ROUND UP 5th July
07 July 2025
The focus over the weekend was very much on our Junior and U23 athletes who were competing in the Irish National Championships held in Tullamore on Saturday. With places on the Irish team for the European U20 and U23 Championships up for grabs competition was of a very high standard.
One of the most anticipated races of the day was the U23 men’s 800m where Nick Griggs (CNDR) moved down from his preferred 5000m distance to take on Irelands best 800m runners. In a slow tactical race Nick produced an impressive turn of speed in the last hundred metres to take a comfortable win in 1.52.46. Dylan McBride (COLAC) snatched the bronze medal to round off a successful few weeks for him.
Callum Baird (Ballymena and Antrim) was hot favourite to win the U23 men’s 400m title and he did not disappoint taking the win in 47.37 an impressive time in the very blustery conditions but unfortunately fell short of the B standard he required to secure selection for the Individual 400m for the Europeans. It was a similar story for Jenna Breen in the U23 women’s 400m. She also required a second B standard and went out hard but faded over the last eighty metres to finish second in 55.28 which also fell short of the standard.
Roise Roberts (CNDR) won her first National title in the women’s U23 5000m in 16.42.52 which like Callum and Jenna fell short of the B standard she needed for selection for the European Championships. Once again, the windy conditions hampering any fast times. Luke Kelly (CNDR) running his first competitive outing of the summer track season ran well to secure the silver medal in the men’s 5000m running 14.47.55
Cara Laverty (Finn Valley) did most of the running in the women’s 1500m only to lose out in the final stretch to finish in second place in 4.25.29. The U23 men’s 1500m followed a very similar pattern to the women’s, Callum Morgan (CNDR) led for most of the race only to lose out in the latter stages to take the silver medal in 3.50.31.
There was success in the field events with Harvey King (Strabane AC) finishing 2nd in the men’s U23 Long Jump with 6.62m.
In the U20 Championships Emer McKee (Willowfield) was the sole local athlete to come home with an Irish title winning the Women’s 5000m in 17.40.47. There were bronze medals for Ava Diver (Beechmount) in the women’s 800m in 2.16.23 and Annabel Morrison (Enniskillen) women’s 1500m in 4.34.48. Cameron McCracken also won bronze in the men’s 110m hurdles running 15.05 just missing out on the silver by one hundredth of a second.
In the U20 field events Andrew King (Strabane AC) finished second in the men’s high jump with a jump of 1.80m.