July 2011 a month to remember for Waterford Athletics

July 2011 a month to remember for Waterford Athletics

Over the past 45 to 50 years or so athletes from Waterford have been distinguishing  themselves at National and International Championships at every level and of course from time to time there have been lean periods which every sport encounters. The great years at senior level of John Treacy, Brendan Quinn, Patricia Walsh, Susan Smith, all Olympians, as well as Gerry Deegan, Brid Hallissey, Jim Sheehan, Ailish O'Brien to mention just a few  all multiple National Champions and International athletes will be remembered for many years to come. In recent years Jamie Costin has been an Olympian and  Kelly Proper has maintained the great tradition also.of multiple National title victories and International ones also..In the past few years  those that have been catching the eye have been our under age athletes with many National titles won as well as British medals also.So when July 2011 came along with four major events for our young athletes in Europe those close to them had high hopes because in Waterford athletics the main theme is positivity. The young Athletes are very well coached and are thought that in any competition they compete in they can be the best regardless of who they compete against so that was the mood when our young athletes left for Europe.

.World Youth Championships.

First up was the World Youth Championships in Lille with two from Waterford competing Kate Veale in the 5000 Metres Walk and Megan Kiely in the 400 Metres Hurdles Going into the Walk Final Kate Veale was very highly ranked after her 3 rd placing in the European Cup Junior walk earlier in the year and her coach Jamie Costin thought that she was capable of breaking 22 minutes and if she did it was felt she would challenge strongly for the gold medal. Well Kate did break 22 minutes by a massive 15 seconds by far the fastest in the world this year in her category and in the process won the title by 15 seconds after hitting the front a long way from the finish. A remarkable result from a remarkable young lady with a remarkable technique and attitude.  Megan got through to the semi final of the hurdles but missed out on a final spot the following day, in the semi final having set off very fast in the first 200 metres it eventually it took its toll, this was her first major championship and the experience gained would be immense.. 

European under 23 Championships 

Next up was the above Championships in Ostrava with five athletes from Ferrybank in action .By far the best performance came from Jessie Barr in the 400 metres hurdles. In her semi final she was always in contention and finished second to easily make it to the final. In that final she was ranked 6 th but again gave a sterling performance to set a personal best time and eventually finished  5 th in 56.65 seconds, just a year previous her time was approx 60 seconds for the event. For the record the other athletes in Ostrava were Niamh Whelan, Kalyn Sheehan, Chris Russell and Mairead Murphy 

European Junior

Talinn, Estonia was the venue for the European Junior Championships and Thomas Barr and Cara Kennedy were our representatives there Thomas competing on three successive days was superb in the 400 Metres Hurdles winning his heat with a personal best of 51.29 and new Irish Junior Record, improving on that time finishing second in the semi final with 50.74 and just outside his best time in finishing 5th in the final in 51.01 All these times in the heat of competition were far ahead of his times a year ago,.Cara Kennedy was unplaced in the Hammer final but her throw of 56.24 Metres  was close to her best..

European Youth Olympics

On then to Trabzon in Turkey for  the European Youth  Olympics with the 17 years old  Kiely twins Ben and Megan as well as 16 years old  Ciara Giles Doran.  Just as it was with Kate Veale there was an air of confidence with the Ferrybank coaches in particular to the chances of Ben Kiely on a line of form between himself and Thomas Barr and how right they were. In his semi final of the 400 Metres Hurdles Ben after a slow start and hitting a hurdle got up to third spot and made the final. In the final he was superb with his hurdling and came storming through to take the gold medal in a personal best time of 52.69 seconds breaking his own Irish Youths Record. His twin sister Megan a few minutes later lined up for the final of the 400 Metres Hurdles also having easily qualified in her semi final with a second placing. Up against a few athletes with much better times she again rose to the occasion and had obviously learned from her World experience to take the bronze medal in a personal best time of 60.44 seconds to round off a magnificent day for the Kiely family and an equally magnificent  month for Waterford athletics.  In Trabzon  Ciara Giles Doran also excelled and made it through to the 200 metres final from her heat and semi final setting a personal best in her semi final     

       

A bright future beckons  

For Kate Veale and the Kiely's at just 17 years of age all three have so far had outstanding under age winning careers. Kate in particular is undefeated at National level and has been National Walking Champion u14,15,16,17,18 all with new records, National Junior Champion and twice National Senior Champion She also is an accomplished Cross Country runner winning the all Ireland u 18  title last year..With the Kiely's in their earlier years they tried many distances but for the past few years have concentrated on Hurdles and have won many National Under Age Hurdles titles and also some 300 and 400 Metres flat titles.u15,16,17.and 18. All are young and learning the game and like all sports people will not be in the winners enclosure always which is inevitable and another part of the learning process and the real challenge is to be able to accept defeat as part of this learning process and not dwell on defeats but  come back a better athlete physically and mentally. At their ages now to avoid the attractions and distractions all teenager encounter will be a challenge. No sportsperson hoping to reach the top can hope to live an extravagant social lifestyle, the training regime is very demanding, no doubt their coaches will advise them and keep their feet firmly on the ground and choose their races wisely and sparingly, no need to involve them in grades much higher than theirs at present give them time. . For the Barr's Jessie and Thomas it has been a somewhat different road but a road that both have trod with patience and belief. Since their early days both have been dedicated and very good club athletes at juvenile level but yet had never hit the headlines with National wins but had been placed on occasions and on winning Relay teams.. Many would have left the sport with similar results but they persevered.Their progress in recent years and in the last year in particular has been nothing but sensational.and they are now developing into top Senior athletes both winning National senior titles on Sunday August 7th and they now have high hopes of qualifying for the London Olympics. All these athletes  have achieved what they have here in Ireland and in Waterford and that can continue under the guidance of those that know them best and have guided them so well up to now. The sport which they are involved in is one of the most competitive and global there is and Irish Athletics has a magnificent record in winning medals at major championships at every level. This  was continued at all four events in July and Waterford athletes contributed to this proud tradition.assisted by Waterford coaches who have been top athletes themselves. On top of this the sport is very well organised in the county presently so all involved share the successes with pride. We look forward to many more days of pride and joy for Waterford  provided by the athletes mentioned here and others also.