Here are some photos from recent county track & field at CIT.

Well done to all of our Athletes

Last Thursday evening four of our Juvenile athletes were awarded for their achievements in the past year. The honour was bestowed by the East Cork Athletics Board at the Vienna Woods Hotel and presentations were made by none other than World Champion Heffernan, much to the delight of our young athletes. Those awarded were Hope, Meghan, Laura and Ciarán.

HOPE-LEAHY-DINGIVAN

Hope is one of our most dedicated athletes. She has competed in East Cork and Cork Co.Track and Field and Cross Country events. She has also represented Cork at the National Community Games. In 2013 she competed in the national Para-Olympic games from where she brought home 3 medals; Silver in Long Jump, Silver in 80m Sprint and Bronze in Discus.

MEGHAN CARR

Meghan returned to form in the cross country season of 2013. She started the season off with a 2nd in the East Corks in Youghal and continued this form right through the season coming 2nd in the Co. U11 and U12 cross country, 2nd in Munster U11 and 3rd in Munster U12, Winning Gold with Cork in the two races. In Santry in the U12 race she showed just why you should never give up passing a few girls in the finishing straight to finish 3rd gold with Cork and Munster. In the U11 race in Waterford she finished 4th again winning gold medals with Cork and Munster.

CIARAN O’BRIEN

Ciaran started the cross country season off in style winning the East Cork U12 race and leading his club team to 2nd. In the Co. U12 he finished 5th. But it was in the Munster U12 that he really showed his guts falling before the line, picking himself up and falling over the line in 11th position and winning a gold medal with Cork. In the national U12 race he ran a great race to finish 40th winning silver with Munster and Bronze with Cork.

LAURA HAYES

Laura continued her good form this year in Cross Country starting off with a 2nd in the East Corks U14. In the Co.s she was 3rd in U14 and then 2nd in U15. In the Munster U14 she finished 3rd with Cork silver and u15 10th with Cork gold. The weekend of the nationals in Santry is one Laura will remember for a long time. On the Saturday she played a big part in helping the U16 Camogie team win the county championship, that night she performed in a local play and the following morning heading for Santry where she finished 5th also winning gold with Munster and silver with Cork. In the National U15 she finished 33rd winning gold with Cork.

INTER-SCHOOLS CROSS COUNTRY

St. Catherine’s have had very good representation at interschool level with several girls taking part. Sarah Barry competed at minor level and qualified for the Munsters. Sarah ran a great race and finished 18th competed in the Juniors and finished 4th

JUVENILE TRAINING

As the evenings are getting brighter and track and field events are fast approaching coaching for Juveniles has moved outdoors.

Adult News

The Cork AAI Novice & Masters road championships were held in Midleton, on Sunday the 2nd of March with both men and women competing over a 4 mile course. The race was very well organised and it’s a credit to the host club Midleton AC for doing such a fine job. For a developing adult club we had six competitors on the day which is great, however we were one short to make a team in the ladies and men’s section. Well done to Ann-Marie Hayes who finished 2nd

FIT 4 LIFE

Fit4Life continues every Wednesday evening, and new members are always welcome. This health promotion initiative has continued to go from strength to strength. The success of our Fit4Life is our approach. Firstly Wednesdays are very sociable and cater for all levels of fitness. So for anyone reading this, if you want to improve your fitness and need motivation with the company of others, Conna Pitch is the place to be on a Wednesday night. Fit4Life is for all. Most nights include a warm up period followed by a structured cardio phase and then a warm down. However if you would like to walk in the company of others and increase your stride and stamina, this is for you also. For those of you who may be thinking about learning to run, this is also the place to be as programmes can be tailored for your needs! Imagine you could be running 5km in just a few weeks. Everyone has to start somewhere and it is always easier in the company of others. Remember increased fitness can add years to your life and life to your years!

Adult training:

Tuesday : Interval Training @ 7pm *The winter training session has come to an end for the summer although the senior athletes will still be training every Tuesday at 7pm during the summer. All welcome to join.

Wednesday: Fit 4 life @7pm

:Road run @ 7pm

Saturday: Trail run @ Knockakeo Woods 10am SHARP.

The athletics clubs in East Cork have started an initiative in 2014 to improve local Track and Field coaching skills, and to provide our older athletes with the opportunity to take part in focused workshops. St. Catherine’s AC have participated by attending a Javelin workshop hosted by Carraig na bhFear AC, and by hosting a High Jump workshop in Conna, both in the month of February.

The javelin workshop was led by national javelin coach Louis Wildenboer. Due to the poor weather conditions the session took place indoors where Louis went through the fundamentals of javelin throwing, specific drills and exercises, and worked on technique with all the throwers and their coaches. The workshop was attended by athletes from Carraig na bhFear AC, St. Catherine’s AC and Youghal AC.

The High Jump workshop was led by Collette Kelly of Belgooly AC. Collette started by explaining some of the fundamental rules of HJ competition and then took us through a series of drills and exercises before introducing the HJ bar and mat. Assisted by Grace McKenzie, an accomplished junior high jumper, Collette carefully broke down into stages the run-up and the jump itself, explaining each to the athletes and coaches alike. This workshop was attended by coaches and athletes from St. Catherine’s AC, Carraig na bhFear AC, Youghal AC and Midleton AC. Thank you Collette for a very instructive afternoon.