On the first day of the All Ireland Juvenile Championships held at the Tullamore Harriers Stadium in Co. Offaly, young Conor McKinney got a taste of his first All Irelands.  Having qualified in third place at Ulster, Conor was competing in the Ulnder 13 high jump, an event he took up in May.  While a medal placing was not expected against more experienced competition, a good jump was hoped for to make the long trek down worthwhile.

 

Coming in at 1.20m, Conor cleared the bar on his second attempt.  At 1.25m, to equal his personal best, Conor narrowly missed his final attempt, with the bar shaking a number of times before finally dropping to the ground. 

 

While disappointed with his exit from the competition, Conor can be proud of his eleventh place finish at his first All Irelands.  An achievement in itself getting to this stage of competition, Conor will have gained valuable experience from this first outing.  With many lessons learned, his height advantage, and with a regular event specific training programme, big improvements in his jumping should be evident in the coming months.

 

Day two involved another long distance trek from Donegal, this time with young Lorresa McGavigan who was also competing in her first All Ireland Championships. 

 

Lorressa was competing in both the javelin and long jump events.  A real medal contender for the javelin on the back of twenty metre plus throws at training, Lorresa arrived before 11am for her event which was due to start at 12pm. On entering the stadium, club coaches heard the last call for the Girls Under 13 javelin. With no warm up or mark taken, Lorresa went straight into the competition and put in three below par throws that ruled her out of the final eight. While it would have taken a personal best throw of 24m plus to win gold or silver, it was disappointing to learn the bronze medal went to a throw of 20.34, a distance she has thrown over many times already.

 

An hour later, Lorresa was competing in the long jump final hoping for a personal best jump to beat her previous best of 3.71m. After her disppointment at the javelin, Lorresa's second jump saw her leap out to a new best of 3.82m, a ninth place finish and a just reward for the many days and weeks of training in recent times. This talented young athlete has a bright future and can look forward to many more days out at these Championships