The Dublin Juvenile T & F Championships kicked off on Wednesday evening with the U12 – U14 sprints and we had 9 athletes representing Skerries AC.

First up on the track were the U12 girls 60m, with Caoileann and Ellie taking to the track. There were over 60 athletes competing in this event. This was the first time for both girls to use the crouch start in a race, but you would never have known. The commitment and effort put in in training on Wednesday nights on the track is paying off. Both girls came 4th in their heats narrowly missing out on a place in the semi finals but came across the finish line with smiles on their faces.

Next up, Jake in the U12 boys, there weren’t as many competitors in the boys event. Jake stalled a little after coming off the line as he thought the heat was being called back for a false start. Thankfully he realised quickly it wasn’t, so got into action and won his heat comfortably.

With large numbers taking part in the U13 Long Jump the organisers switched the order of events, so next on the track were the U14 girls 80m with Daphney representing Skerries. Competition was strong with Daphney placing 5th in her heat.

Over to Sam for the U14 80m boys. The numbers for the boys were low so this race was run as a semi-final with 3 races. The top 2 from each race and the next two fastest would qualify for the the final. Sam placed 4th in his heat and had to wait patiently to see if he was fast enough for the final. Unfortunately it wasn’t to be this time.

With the Long Jump still going on, our U13’s had to wait patiently while the U12’s ran their semi-finals. Jake put in another great performance winning his semi-final, finals here we come.

Long Jump over, onto the U13 girls 80m with Keva & Lily taking to the track for Skerries. Decision by the officials based on numbers entered was top three from each heat to go forward to the semi-finals. Keva was first up and came 4th, just missing out on a semi-final place. Next up Lily, who ran a blistering heat coming 1st and seeing her safely through to the semi-finals.

Over to the lads where we had Cillian and Harvey. Things weren’t looking good for Cillian as the observant spectators noticed him limping as he headed for the start line. He ran a great race but unfortunately was outside qualification for the semis. Harvey was next on the track and led his race from start to finish, easily through to the semi-finals.

U14 boys final and girls semi-finals were run and then back to U13 semi-finals with Lily up first. There were 3 semi-finals with top 2 from each heat and 2 fastest over three heats to qualify for final. Lily had another great race finishing in 4th, having to wait and see if her time would see her through. After waiting around for quite a while, it wasn’t to be for Lily. Harvey ran his semi-final in a similiar fashion to his heat and won it comfortably. U14 and U12 girls finals were completed while Jake was waiting patiently for the U12 boys Turbo Javelin to finish so he could finish off his running for the evening. Eventually his time came and it was a very strong final with it going down to the wire, Jake managing to take 1st with an impressive dip on the line.

Last in action was Harvey and he continued his strong performances not only of the evening but of his season so far taking 1st place, backing up his gold in the Dublin Indoors in February. No rest now for Jake & Harvey as they head to Tullamore in mid July for the Nationals, congratulations to you both.

Well done to all our athletes who were tremendous on the night, Ide and Ruth are very proud of you all, we couldn’t have asked for anymore and the encouragement and support you show each other is out of this world. Massive thanks to Marie and Emma who had the horrible task of being finishing line officials on the night, but handled it very well. Thanks to Denise & Will for the photos and to all the parents for their support on the night and ferrying the kids to the training session, especially those in ALSAA.

Thanks also to Tallaght AC and the Dublin Juvenile Board, another great event in smashing weather.