Duggan and Nestor win in Limerick

The Limerick City and County Sports Partnership held its first 5k Summer Series at Caherdavin on Thursday, when there was a fine turnout of Clare athletes.
Loretto Duggan, (St Mary’s) won the ladies’ 5k after a great contest with Teresa Tuohy, (Bilboa AC Limerick). At the half-way point Duggan had a few metres of a lead and went on to record a fine win with a time of 19.56. Siobhán Nestor, the leading junior lady, finished in the top six with a time of 22.06.
The next race will take place this Thursday from the Southill Area Centre. A week later, on Thursday, July 14, Analog Devices Raheen Business Park will be the start-up point for a 6k run starting at 7pm.

Results
Junior ladies
1 Siobhán Nestor (Kilmurry Ibrickane/North Clare)  (22.06)
Senior ladies
1 Loretto Duggan (St Mary’s) (19.56)
2 Teresa Tuohy (Bilboa) (20.21)
3 Noelle Fitzgerald (West Limerick) (20.52)
4 Lorna O Neill (Kilmurry Ibrickane/North Clare)  (21.08)
5 Suzanne Moloney (Ind) (21.43)
6 Siobhán Nestor (Kilmurry Ibrickane/North Clare)  (22.06)
Senior men
1 Mike Cunningham (Bilboa) (16.46)
2 Niall O’Callaghan (Riocht) (17.02)
3 Michael Rejmer (Ind) (17.09)
O-55
1 James Sexton (Kilmurry Ibrickane/North Clare)  (22.06)

Summer Series in Lisdoonvarna

The Clare Sports Partnership and Clare Athletics Association are holding race four of the 5k Summer Series on Saturday at 11am at Lisdoonvarna.
Entries will be taken at the Lisdoonvarna Amenity and Sports Complex from 9.30am to 10.30am. The event is open to all fun runners, joggers, walkers and meet-and-train groups.
Michael Shannon (Kilnaboy) was the winner of the first series in Scariff and again in Lissycasey and Lees Road. It’s expected that he will be challenged strongly by David Richardson (West Limerick), Brian Murphy (Ennis Track) and Liam Markham (Ennis Track).
Sharon Rynne (Kilmurry Ibrickane/North Clare) finished ahead of Marian Burke in Scariff and Deirdre Finn (Bilboa AC Limerick) with Veronica Colerain (Ennis Track) winning in Lissycasey and Lees Road. They are likely to be pressed hard by Tracy Guilfoyle (Kilnaboy) and Aoifa Nash (Ennis Track).
The final race in the series will be on Saturday, August 13 at Lees Road at 11am.
For full details, contact 065 6865434 or 087 2472623.

Fixtures
July
9 Clare Sports Partnership and Clare AAI 5k road series (number four) Lisdoonvarna, starting at 11am.
9 -10 National Juvenile U-12s to U-19s Track and Field Championships in Tullamore, starting at 10am.
16 Cross Family Festival 5k road race and Fun Walk in Cross, starting at 8pm.
17 Munster B Juvenile Track and Field Championships in Templemore.
23-24 National Juvenile U-14s to U-19s Track and Field in Tullamore, starting at 10am.
30 Kilmihil Festival, Dan O’Halloran Memorial Fun Walk at 5pm and the 10k Road Race in Kilmihil, starting at 2pm.
30-31 National Combined Events U-14 to U-19s in Tullamore.
31 National Juvenile B Championships U-13, U-14, U-16s plus Combined Events in Tullamore.
August
1 Kildysart Cultural Festival and the Cian Cleary Benefit Fund four-mile fun run and four-mile fun walk in Kildysart, starting at 12noon.
6-7 National AAI Senior Track and Field Championships in Santry.
6 Future Streets of Galway 8k Road Race starting at 7pm.   
7 The third annual Tommy White Memorial and the 36th Annual Moy Open Sports Day will take place in Moy Football Field, starting at 1.30pm.

Juvenile Track and Field Championships

The National Juvenile Indoor Track and Field Championships for U-12, U-13, U-14, U-15, U-16, U-17, U-18 and U-19s will take place in Tullamore this Saturday and Sunday starting at 10am both days.
The Clare clubs will have big representation both days, with Ennis Track Club, Kilmurry Ibrickane-North Clare, Marian, Tulla, Kilmihil, St Mary’s and Shannon all represented.
There will be four Clare athletes in the U-12s, Tony Odubote (Ennis Track, 60m), Tara Kelly (St Mary’s, long jump), Grace Moloney (Tulla, ballthrow) and Caoilfhionn O’Dea (Kilmurry Ibrickane-North Clare 600m).
In the U-13s, Elaine Shannon (Kilmurry Ibrickane-North Clare), the Munster bronze medal winner, will be competing in the 600m while in the boys’ U-13 600m another Munster champion, Jamie Roche (Ennis Track) along with Eoin Looney ­(Kilmurry Ibrickane-North Clare) will be inaction and Anaghard Loughnane (Marian) will compete in the U-13 girls’ shot putt.
In U-15s, Derbhile Ryan (Clonlara and Nenagh AC) will be taking on the high jump along with Rachel Clancy (St John’s) with Paraic McNamara (Marian) in the boys’ U-15 high jump.
Alice Akers (Marian) will compete in the girls’ U-16 javelin and in the U-17s, Niamh Markham (Ennis Track, 300m and 800m) and Ian Slobody (Kilmihil, 800m) will be chasing honours. Cormac Lynch (Marian) in the boys’ U-18 100m, William Flynn (Shannon) in the boys’ U-18 400m, 400m hurdles and the 800m and Mark Boland (Marian) in the 400m boys’ U-19 are others who will be chasing success at this meeting.

Double gold for Michael O’Brien in Munster Championships

The Munster Track and Field Championships for senior, junior and U-23 were held at Cork IT in glorious weather conditions. A small number of Clare athletes produced outstanding individual performances and they came away with a fine haul of medals – three gold, six silver and two bronze.
Michael O’Brien (Tulla) captured gold in both the senior men’s 56lbs for distance and over the bar. O’Brien threw 6.53m to take the gold medal after a great battle with last year’s Munster champion Richard Pilkington, throwing 6.47m, and had to settle for a silver medal. In the o/bar competition both men once again battled for Munster glory with O’Brien again taking another title with a throw of 3.40m and Pilkington again having to settle for a silver medal with a throw of 3.20m.
Rachel Akers (Marian) retained her Munster hammer title with another great throw of 53.36m.
In the Munster junior 800m, Kevin Chesser (Ennis Track) had to work hard on the home straight to take the silver medal in 2.06.31.
In the senior men’s 5,000m Brian McGinley (Ennis Track) ran very well over 12-and-a-half laps in very hot conditions to take a silver medal in 15.44.34.
In the hammer, Dave Heffernan (Marian), throwing for the first time, won a bronze medal with a throw of 20.28m.

Results: Senior ladies’ long jump, 4 Suzanne Kelly (Kilnaboy) (4.69m); hammer, 1 Rachel Akers (Marian) (53.36m, championship record); discus, 2 Rachel Akres (Marian) (34.88m); javelin, 2 Rachel Akres (Marian) (24.14m); shot putt, 3 Rachel Akers (Marian) (10.03m).
Junior men 800m, 2 Kevin Chesser (Ennis Track) (2.06.31); senior men 800m, 4 Micheal Keane (Ennis Track) (2.00.09); 5,000m, 2 Brian McGinley (Ennis Track) (15.44.64); 56lbs for distance, 1 Michael O’Brien (Tulla) (6.53m); 2 Richard Pilkington (Kilmurry Ibrickane/North Clare) (6.47m); 56lbs for o/bar, 1 Michael O’Brien (Tulla) (3.40m), 2 Richard Pilkington (Kilmurry Ibrickane/North Clare) (3.20m); hammer, 3 Dave Heffernan (Marian) (20.28m).