What an incredible kick-off for all our MSB juveniles at day one of the Dublin Indoor Championships last Sunday in the National Indoor Arena!
MSB had a dominant presence with well over 70 entries across all track and field events. Our juveniles, ranging from U13 to U18 represented the club with pride and enthusiasm. Their spirit was infectious as many athletes embraced new challenges, some stepping into the competition arena for the very first time.
Track side the day kicked off with the 200m heats. It was a first outting for our U16 crew of 6 girls and 3 boys who are eligible for this indoor distance for the first time.
Our athletes gave it their all in what was a competitive field of multiple heats where only the fastest 6 in each group can progress to a final.
It's also the first year for U16 athletes to have to adhere to strict "one false start and you're are out" rule which added additional tension.
We were delighted to see both Mia Brett and Luis Blinco winning their heats with times that would progress them to the finals. Lily Fitzpatrick also won her heat but agonisingly missed out on a place in the final by .02s coming 7th overall from the 7 heats with a massive PB of 27.92s 👏
We had more success from our U17s group of 3 athletes when both Chidinma Adakaibe and Ange Makembe also claimed their place in the final.
Lauren Atkinson unfortunately had to pull out due to another sporture fixture clash. Daniel Leoca gave a really solid performance with 25.53s but unfortunately missed out on a finals qualification.
For our U18 category Sam MacMahon also unfortunately had to pull out due to injury but Mordyat Owoyomi gave a wonderful debut appearance in a 200m indoor race in what was a very competitive field. Well done Mordyat and congratulations to all of our sprinters who competed in the 200m.
The 200m finals took place at lunch time and tensions were high!
With MSB representated in 4 nail bitting finals, our supporters had plenty to cheer for and they weren't disappointed. We were thrilled to come away with four podium positions for all four athletes!
Mia Brett took U16G silver in an indoor PB of 26.24s and Luis Blinco also claimed silver in the U16B in 24.48s.
A third silver came from Chidinma Adakaibe in the U17G in a PB of 26.71s .
Our final medal came from Ange Makembe who claimed bronze in 23.69s.
A tremendous collective achievement from our MSB teenage juvenile sprinters who look forward to more competition in Athlone for the Nationals in March.
Congratulations to all and to coaches Dan Kavanagh and Sean Kildunne.
MSB hurdlers also had a fantastic day and we were very proud to see bumper levels of participation with over 20 entries across the U13 to U16 age categories.
Kudos goes to hurdles coach Cyril Coquart who lead a dedicated 6 week coaching programme for hurdlers U14-U17 in the NIA preparing kids in all the very technical aspects of this challenging event.
Credit also goes to Nuala O'Dwyer and JP Kelly who led the coaching for our younger group for U13s who were competing in hurdles for the first time. All coaches were delighted see our juveniles line out with their team mates and clear their hurdles with grace and confidence. We were also delighted to see some podium positions and PBs achieved in this category. With four U13 boys competing across 3 heats, they all ran extremely well. Orji Favour progressed to the final and claimed a well earned 4th place!
It was brilliant to see the U13 girls out in force with 7 entries across 6 heats. All girls put in a brilliant effort and enjoyed the experience.
It was wonderful again to see the high levels of participation in U14G where we had 8 entries.
The girls ran brilliantly and supported each other all the way. Both Cara Gorman and Emily Ryan made it to the U14G finals and had an incredible run finishing in 3rd and 4th place respectively. Cara took the bronze medal and both girls now progress to nationals.
There were three MSB girls races in the U15G heats with Aleksandra Hazior making a final where she did a solid run showing great technique. Catherine Dempsey represented the club in our U16G , a tough race so soon after running a 200m but she gave a gutsy run. Finally, Mia Coquart stormed her way to a very well earned silver medal in the U17G.
She had a tremendous run which comes on the back of months of hard training. Well done Mia!
Congratulations to all hurdles athletes and coaches Cyril Coquart, Nuala O'Dwyer and JP Kelly.
Field side, the Shot Put and Long Jump competitions kicked off in the morning for our U16 and U17 boys and girls.
In Shot Put MSB had 4 girls compete a across the U16 & U17 age categories throwing the heavier 3kg shot.
Mia Coquart was thrilled to claim bronze in the U17G with a throw of 7.51m and Mia Brett was happy with 4th place in the U16G with a throw of 7.90m just 3cm shy of bronze.
Senan Byrne had a great performance throwing his 4kg shot out to 9.25m and claimed a silver medal for U16 boys.
Later in the afternoon Shot Put continued for our U15 juveniles with more success for our boys when Matthew Monahan also claimed silver with a throw of 9.68m with his 3kg shot.
The U15 girls also gave strong performances in shot throwing the 2.72kg weight.
U15 long jumps kicked off early in the morning with 6 entries from MSB.
Five of our girls lined out and gave strong performances with Mia Kazamarak and Cadhla MacPartland getting extremely close to the 4m mark.
Matthew Monahan was the only MSB boy lining up for long jump and gave a great performance when he leaped out to 4.37m.
The U16 Girls Long jump took place in the afternoon with four MSBers taking part. For all four girls this was the second if not 3rd event of the day. Despite that all four girls gave their very best effort. Mia Brett did well to make the final 6 and finished up with a best jump of 4.44m which secured her 4th place and progression to the nationals.
Congratulations to all field athletes and their coaches.
By late afternoon the time had come for our race walkers to shine. Coach Bruce McDevitt prepared the following race walking report. A special thanks goes to Bruce for all his hard work in growing, developing and coaching a new army of race walkers in MSB who are slowly beginning to dominate this event in every age group. It has broaden our event offer and ensured that we continue to have an event for everyone in our club. Well done Bruce.
Racewalkers - Report Bruce McDevitt
MSB entered its highest ever number of Racewalkers in the Dublin Juvenile Championships on Sunday at the NIA with 14 young athletes entering various races from under 14 upwards.
First up were the under 14 girls where in a very tight tight race MSB managed to take the 4 national qualification spots. Keeva Kildunne (gold), Reese Peacock (silver) and Chloe Fennessy (bronze) took the podium places with Rachel Mc Devitt right behind taking 4th.
Darcey Peacock was well in the mix but a reoccurring hamstring injury eventually got the better of her on the day. Una White, having just completed the 60 metre hurdles brought home the group with another positive performance . It was a great start to the day.
Mia Kaczmarek kept up the MSB momentum as she finished a fine second in a high quality under 15 field.
In the boys under 14s, though relatively new to racewalking Sean Mc Nulty and Harry Lynch took the silver and bronze medals with Conor Mullins also qualifying in 4th for the National finals.
Ryan Mc Devitt put down an early marker in preparation for the Under 15 National championships with another assured performance to take gold in the boys under 15s.
MSBs racewalkers weren’t done there though. In a ding dong battle which swung one way then the other, Isla Dwyer finished just ahead of Catherine Dempsey to take the gold medal with Catherine taking the silver medal in the under 16 girls.
Harry Foley completed the day with a foul free performance to take home the gold medal in the Under 17 boys.
It was a great afternoon for the relatively new section of racewalking and will hopefully become a catalyst for many others to give the discipline a try. Many thanks to Chief Judge Jackie Mulhall and her fellow Judges, Officials and volunteers for all ensuring our athletes got to take part on such an enjoyable afternoon. Also a special word of thanks to the MSB coaching team (2008-2011) and the committee for facilitating the growth of the group over the last few months.
Onto the next one ! We go again !!
And that marked the end of an extremely exciting and fruitful day for our MSB Juveniles at day 1 of the Dublin Championships. It was a day filled with remarkable achievements, numerous personal bests, and heart-warming support from seasoned athletes towards their peers taking their debut strides.
To all our athletes, we wish you the absolute best in your upcoming events over day 3 and 4 on the 3rd and 4th Feb. We encourage you to savour every moment of this exciting journey. We also wish all athletes who have qualified for the National championships the very best with their onward training.
To our parent volunteers Aveen Fitzpatrick , Maria Kazmarek, Ciara McPartland, Cyril Coquart, Marian Finnerty, Olive O'Brien, Emer Morgan and Jackie Mulhall , who gave their time last Sunday to ensure this event ran smoothly - thank you!
A reminder to all parents that the Dublin Championships is run entirely by volunteers. Every single official is unpaid. It is a requirement of our clubs entry to the Dublin Championships to provide volunteers for each day of the championships and that is why it's also a condition of MSB juvenile membership to volunteer at least one full day to juvenile competitions over the year so please have a think in advance as to what days will suit your schedule.
Finally a thank you and well done to our army of coaches, and administrators who are also unpaid volunteers. It's a huge team effort which requires a significant amount of volunteered personal time away from family and friends to prepare our juveniles for the indoor competition season. Well done and thank you to all involved .