British & Irish Junior Championships
| Author | Date | Message |
|---|---|---|
| Miriam Maher | Sep 2 2021, 8:54pm | This Saturday, September 4th, 2021, the following teams of junior athletes will represent Ireland in the British and Irish Junior Mountain Running Championships in Newcastle, Co. Down. U20 Boys Team - A Aaron Smith Jack McMahon Rian MacMaolain Cian Law U20 Boys Team - B Luke Wheldon Adam Byrne U20 Girls Team Claragh Keane Kate Jackman Dearbhail Cuddy Katie Gibbons U17 Boys Team - A Luke Duffy Ryan McCarthy MacKenzie McIvor Jay Hogan U17 Boys Team - B Tim Ivers Oliver Hopkins U17 Girls Team Honor Lynch Emily Rowe Kate Connolly Laura Nunan The teams were supported by training plans developed by our juniors coaching partner and world ranking Irish international athlete, Sarah McCormack, from missinglinkcoaching.co.uk. Wishing all these young athletes a weekend of great racing and experiences as they represent their country! The Irish teams will be accompanied by Miriam Maher, Brian Flannelly, Vivian O’Gorman and Angela Flynn as the Management Team from IMRA. |
| Richard Nunan | Sep 2 2021, 9:03pm | The very best of luck to all our Juniors ! Great to see an event taking place after all the hard work that has been put in. |
| Laura Flynn | Sep 2 2021, 9:15pm | Best of luck to you all. It’ll be a great experience. Well done to Miriam and your management team on making it happen. |
| Lilly Jones | Sep 2 2021, 9:39pm | Good luck to everyone. |
| Miriam Maher | Sep 8 2021, 9:30pm | A squad of 19 Junior athletes represented Ireland and IMRA in the British and Irish Junior Mountain Running Championships, held in Newcastle, Co. Down last Saturday, September 3rd. The athletes came from a variety of club and running backgrounds, many of them taking part in an International mountain running race for the first time. Coming out of the last two years with very limited racing and training options on the hills, we were delighted to be able to provide these keen athletes with an opportunity to participate and race at this level. The race route, a clockwise loop, starting from Happy Valley, and summiting Slieve Meelbeg (702m), was just under 4 km long, with 380 m elevation. The route was tough, on open mountain, with a very technical descent off the summit. The weather conditions were very good with clear visibility and dry conditions underfoot. We had some very strong individual performances with Claragh Keane (DMP AC) coming 9th in the U20 girls race and Luke Duffy (Tullamore Harriors AC) coming 8th in the U17 boys race. Overall Ireland came 4th in the U20 girls race and the U17 boys race and 5th in the U20 boys race and the U17 girls race. Every member of the squad gave every effort to their racing and left it all out there. Rian MacMaolain (U20) winning the award for hardcore racing by running most of the very technical downhill with only one shoe on...leaving the other one on the course to be picked up by Dad, Caoimhin! While there were no medals for the squad this year, there are very promising signs of development potential which we plan to build on with this group. Most of the squad will still be in age next year for these championships, due to be held in Ambleside, the Lake District, hosted by England. For the members of the squad moving out of age next year, many of who have represented Ireland so well at this level over the last few years, we wish them many good years of racing at senior level now. The event, hosted by Northern Ireland, was excellently organised and the feedback from all those that represented Ireland was very positive with great experiences, both on and off the field, for all those that travelled north. They were a truly great group of young athletes to travel with and support throughout the weekend. Fantastic support was provided by their families, not just for the weekend, but over the last month or so since their selection for the squad. Leo Mahon provided his usual calm and steady support in the lead up to the weekend, before legging it to Austria to race impressively in his own international at the World Masters. Sarah McCormack (missinglinkcoaching.co.uk) designed a comprehensive training programme for the teams to follow in preparation for the championships, before heading off to her own racing exploits in Trofeo Nasego at the WWRA World Cup races:) I was very lucky to have the dream management team trio of Vivian O'Gorman, Angela Flynn and Brian Flannelly join me as Team Managers for the weekend. I've said it before, I'll say it again, when it comes to delivering on the junior related race events for IMRA - it takes a village...what an excellent village it is! Miriam |
| Richard Nunan | Sep 9 2021, 11:58am | Thanks Miriam, a huge amount of effort and energy has been spent in developing and getting a team to the Championships. Well done to all of those who took part. A huge step in the right direction and thanks to the management for getting them there ! Maybe bring a spare shoe next time :-) |
