April was a busy month for Donore’s Juvenile athletes who have been competing weekly in various competitions.

On April 3rd Eleanor and Oliver Hopskins braved the bad weather to take on the Dunboyne AC junior races. Eleanor finished in a fantastic 17th place and Oliver was 13th in their age races. On the same weekend Micheal Barry ran the Rush Junior parkrun finishing in 3rd place with a fantastic 8.49 for the 2k distance.

At the Spring Throws meet in Morton Stadium on April 9th, Lauren O’Keeffe won her 3KG hammer event with a PB throw of 58.13m, while Clodagh Read also threw a PB (37.73m) in the 4KG competition, also in the 4KG competition and just returning from injury Orlaith Read threw just short of her PB.

On April 10th, we had the Great Ireland Junior Run, despite the wet and windy weather our juveniles were out in force for these local races. In the 1.6k mini race, Eleanor Hopkins was the 13th girl home with a brilliant 7.52. Meanwhile, in the 2.5k  junior race,  Jack Raftery was 6th in 8.49, Oliver Hopkins was 9th with 10.08, Micheal Barry wasn’t far behind with 10.18 for 12th place, Sean Kinsella 19th in 10.44, Daniel O’Neill 33rd 11.31 and Grace Raftery was 6th female in 11.04 and Ellie Raftery was 27th in 11.37.

April 19th saw the start of the Schools Track and Field season with the West Leinsters,  Lara O’Byrne made a great return to competition taking double gold in the inter hurdles and pole vault, while Sean Lawlor, just back from injury took gold in the senior 100m.
Donore Harriers athletes dominated the inter girls 100m final Cara Brennan won the gold, Suzi O’Farrell silver and Eve Reilly bronze with Robyn O’Keeffe finishing in 4th place. The inter boys 100m hurdles was another Donore dominated event With Alex Clarkin 1st, Jack Rudden 2nd, Kolade Abuidun 3rd and Max Carey 4th.
Aoife Lynch ran brilliantly to win gold in the senior girls 100m and Ailbhe Healy continued her winning form to win the senior pole vault. The inter girls hurdles was another clean sweep for Donore athletes with Lara O’Byrne taking gold, Angie Gonia silver and Ciara O’Donnell bronze.
In the boys under 16 mile, Faithi Aden was first, Jack Raftery was 3rd and Zakariya Ahmed 4th. The senior girls hurdles had Lauren Kennedy 3rd and Róisín Rynn 4th.

On the 20th of April we had some athletes in the North Leinster. Ashline Read took gold with a throw of 28.44m in the  junior hammer and Lauren O’Keeffe threw 50.77m to also take gold and Beth Kirwan silver with a throw of 32.10m and in the senior girls Clodagh Read won silver with 38.46m. Rebecca Power was second in the inter girls javelin and on the track Caoimhe Mackey was second in the 400m running a pb of 61.7 ad Eilis Darby was second in the inter steeplechase.

On the 21st Sean Lawlor and Aoife Lynch both completed the double for the week with gold medals in their respective 200m race, with Paul McDermot finishing 2nd to Sean in the senior 200m. In the inter girls 200m Cara Brennan ran brilliantly again to take silver with Andie Mcguire winning bronze and Robyn O’Keeffe in 4th place. Max Carey made his 400m hurldes debut finishing 2nd and Kolade Abiodun won gold in the boys long jump.
In the inter girls long jump Andie McGuire won gold and Eve Reilly won silver with both of the girls coming away with new pbs. Louis O’Loughlin had a brilliant win in the minor boys 800m and Niamh O’Neill won the senior girls 3k.
A number of Donore athletes also took part in the relays; Lucy Kirwin was on the Mount Sackvill minor girls winning team and Róisín Rynn and Imogen Sweeney were on the St Joseph senior girls team who won gold, while Andie McGuire won on the Kings Hospital bronze winning senior girls team.  The Coláiste Cois Life inter team who finished 3rd had Robyn O’Keeffe and Suzi O’Farrell. There were plenty more athletes who competed for their schools, making finals and posting pbs. Well done to everyone.