Irish Schools Track and Field Championships 2025
The pinnacle event of Irish Schools Track & Field took place at Tullamore, Co Offaly on Saturday and as a club we were privileged to have four club members qualify and participate.
Qualifying alone for the finals is an achievement in itself so well done to Cadence Hamilton, Cassie Curran, Cormac Leheny and Thomas Coy!
Fore those supporting, the three hour car journey was worth it. Heavy rain that morning accompanied with wind wasn’t ideal but thankfully the rain subsided and the towering hedge that surrounds the track did its best to shelter events.
First up on the day was Cassie in the Junior Girls 800m. Twelve of the fastest girls across the Island lined up and when all was finished, Cassie finished in a fantastic 4th place in a time of 2:18:07, a new PB! Can’t ask for much more than that effort so well done.
Then we had the two boys and partners in crime this season, Cormac and Thomas race in the Junior Boys 1500m. This race comprised of the ten fastest boys from the four corners of Ireland take on the challenging and fast paced 1.5km distance and what a race it was….Both boys ran an exemplary race and it was heartbreak for Thomas on the finish line as he crossed in 4th place in 4:18:69, missing 3rd place by a 10th of a second! A superb effort from Thomas and a brave run and no doubt at all he’ll be back up on a podium soon enough. Cormac crossed the line just after him in 5th place in 4:21:04 – another superb run and a new PB. Both boys did their school St Malachys and the club proud. Roll on the Club Championships!
Finally, it was the run of Cadence who was competing in the U16 Girls Mile that had 13 runners participating. A gruelling fast paced distance for anyone and Cadence ran a brave and impressive run crossing the line in 5:34:70 and 10th place. A great test for Cadence and preparation for the pending club championships this weekend!
Parkruns – Saturday 31 May
Waterworks
Well done to the nine wee Stags who ran the Waterworks Parkrun on Saturday.
Special shout out to Isaac who ran a blistering run and set himself a new PB!
Also, welcome to the club Sophia and Malcolm who ran their first 5km Parkruns at the Waterworks.
Great running to all the Juniors.
| Name | Position | Time |
| Alex Reid | 6 | 19:52 |
| Dara Cassidy | 11 | 20:10 |
| Isaac Mooney | 12 | 20:33 *PB* |
| Niamh McMillan | 66 | 25:35 |
| Georgia O’Shaughnessy | 91 | 26:44 |
| Sophia Kielty | 98 | 27:06 |
| Annie Cullen | 120 | 28:15 |
| Malcolm McKenzie | 121 | 28:16 |
| Ellen Cullen | 209 | 34:44 |
Also on Saturday, we had three Juniors participate in further afield 5km Parkruns…Well done to Katie-Louise Goodfellow who completed the Falls Parkrun on 30:35. Even further afield, we had Seadna O’Hare Lynch go all the way to Co Clare and take part in the Illaumanagh Parkrun finishing in 25th place in a time of 24:17. Finally young Finn McConnell went into the West and ran the Bundoran Parkrun in beautiful Donegal finishing in 65th place in 49:58.
Waterworks Junior Parkrun – Sunday 1 June
The Sunday Junior Parkun is starting to look more and more like an official club training session with the numbers now participating which is great to see! We saw 18 Juniors run the 2km course with club members taking 1,2,3 – special shout out to brothers Lucas and Isaac with the 1,2 and to Nola for 3rd place and first girl. Also congratulations to Annie, Georgia and Aoife who all got new PB’s!!! Well done girls and great to see you all running together as team mates and pushing each other on for those well deserved PB’s.
| Name | Position | Time |
| Lucas Mooney | 1 | 7:19 |
| Isaac Mooney | 2 | 7:22 |
| Nola Rafferty | 3 | 7:50 |
| Sophia Doris | 5 | 8:22 |
| Maria Maguire | 7 | 8:39 |
| Jessica Murray | 9 | 9:06 |
| Annie Cullen | 11 | 9:12 *PB* |
| Georgia O’Shaughnessy | 13 | 9:17 *PB* |
| Aoife Lemon | 14 | 9:28 *PB* |
| Malcolm McKenzie | 17 | 9:29 |
| Luke Doris | 18 | 9:32 |
| Sophia Kielty | 20 | 9:44 |
| Penny Dickson | 36 | 11:04 |
| Lucy Dickson | 38 | 11:05 |
| Fola O’Kane | 40 | 11:14 |
| Owen White | 48 | 12:19 |
| Ellen Cullen | 50 | 12:36 |
| Harry Teague | 68 | 15:19 |
Further afield, we had a few Juniors participating in other junior events.
Just a stones throw away at the new Woodvale Junior Parkrun, Kaite-Louise Goodfellow finished 39th in 22:48. In South Belfast, Etain McLoughlin completed the Ormeau run in 8th place and 9:58.
In East Belfast, Tanoj Yakkanti completed Victoria parkrun in 8:23 and 4th place while Taanya Yakkanti finished din 14:10.
However, our furthest traveller on Sunday was Miles McKinney who not only went all the way to Malahide Castle Junior Parun in Co Dublin, but he finished in 15th place with a time of 9:07 which was a new PB!! – well worth the trip alone for that!
Event Calendar
- Lagan Valley AC are hosting their next Fab Five event on Thursday 19th June. These are great track events for our Juniors and well worth registering for, they sell out extremely quickly so the advice is to book ASAP. For more details and how to register please go to the Lagan Valley Facebook page at:Lagan Valley AC Fab 5 – Meet 4 – Thursday 19th June 2025
- The Summer Athletics Training Camps at the Mary Peters Track are now available to book:
Summer StarTrack | Athletics Fixtures in Northern Ireland | Athletics Northern Ireland
Training
Training as normal this Tuesday and Thursday at Girls Model track from 6pm
Also can we remind parents to speak to their children and remind them that there are no toilet facilities at the Girls Model Track.
Finally best of luck to all the Juniors this weekend taking part in Day 1 of the Ulster Club Championships taking place on Sunday at the Antrim Forum. Full report next week. (FYI, Day 2 events take place on Sunday 15th at Mary Peters Track)
That’s all for this week folks!