Togher Athletics

This weekend saw the Munster U14-U19 championships come to CIT. Weather was all over the place on both days. Sun Shining one minute and torrential rain and gusts of wind the next. Racing was all about medals this weekend and qualifying for the National Champs which will be held in Tullamore on the weekends of the 14/15th & 28/29th respectively Timetable. A small Togher contingent competed this weekend put performed exceptionally well..

In the U15 800m Ruairi Casey fought valiantly for a 3rd place finish, with fellow training partner Sean Barber 6th. On the Second day of competition both athletes ran in the 800m and Ruairi qualified for the All Ireland’s with a fourth place finish and Sean a few places behind in 8th

The timetable threw up a few questionable scheduling conflicts for the U16 boys who had there 1500m heats and 800m heats 2 hours apart from each other with the finals of the 800m  also scheduled for later on that day. Thank god both ended up being straight finals. Togher’s Stephen Cotter doubled up and finished a credible 3rd in the 1500m and 5th in the 800m. Fatigue definitely should in the later race where he was in contention early on both just got run out in the end

In the U17 Boys races Togher’s Liam Hennessey won the double in the 800m and 1500m’s.. His blistering finishing speed was the defining factor in both. He will be in the mix for medals come All Ireland time. Liam’s team-mate Alan Ring had a very gutsy race in the 800m’s, Alan took on the pace early on and finished in a superb 2nd place behind Liam. Alan finished 5th than a day later in the 1500m. Well done to both

In the U18 3000 metres Eoin Bourke and Brendan Couch both stepped on the line for us.. It was a high-class field with all the other ages groups thrown into one, but the lads worked well together and came through strongly. Eoin finished second and Brendan a place behind in 3rd. Brendan went again on day 2 of the Championships in the 3ooom steeplechase and in very tough conditions ran a great race to come out on top and victorious in the U18 category.

Well done to all the Togher athletes who competed and look forward to the All Ireland’s. Also mention must go to West Muskerry’s Gary O Sullivan who is like the rest trained by our Head Coach Stephen Macklin, Gary also qualified for the All Ireland Champs with a superb 3rd place finish in the U16 800m.

Munsters Results HERE

On the International Front Marian Heffernan Togged out for the Irish Women’s 4x400m team who raced at the European Championships this weekend in Helsinki.The Ladies went in Heat one, Joanne Cuddihy had a stormer of a 2nd leg to put the team into 3rd place, She passed on to our very own Marian Heffernan who  ran a very strong leg and kept the team in the same position she was given, Unfortunately they were pipped on the home straight in the final leg and ended up in 5th place. They were later disqualified for a baton handover infringement.Probably also a lane infringment. *Have you ever seen so many DQ’s in your life for lane infringements. A mad championships*  Anyways the girls have room for improvement and a cause to celebrate because as of a few minutes ago they have OFFICALLY QUALIFIED FOR THE LONDON OLYMPICS.. GREAT NEWS.. WELL DONE TO MARIAN FROM ALL AT TOGHER AC..

Results from the Euros are HERE