A Bandon brother and sister are celebrating All Ireland success this week as National Indoor Shot Putt Champions. Patrick and Laura McSweeney had impressive performances at the recent Woodies DIY All Ireland Juvenile Indoor Championships in Nenagh on April 2nd. Patrick at U19 level had a comfortable lead from the start with his best throw of 13.21m being nearly 1.5m longer that the second placed athlete. Laura competing at U17 level was also equally successful with her throw of 12.41m which was over 2m longer than her nearest rival. Laura now has five National Indoor titles in Shot Putt at the various age levels during recent years. She is also the holder of another five outdoor Shot National tiles. Patrick also holds five National Indoor titles as well as one Outdoor National Shot title and he also has won 3 silver medals outdoors for Shot. Well done to the McSweeneys who continue to dominate the National Juvenile Shot Putt scene. Also competing on the day was Shane Howard who was unfortunate not to get a medal in the Boys U18 long jump where he finished fourth. He also competed in the high jump finishing in fifth place. Phil Healy came fourth in the Girls U18 200m.
In other results for the club, another brother and sister team were in action at the first round of the All Ireland Juvenile Indoor Championships held in Magherafelt. Colin Kingston won silver in the Boys U16 shot. His sister Erin competed well at U14 level but finished outside the medal positions on this occasion.
Sprinter Joan Healy has been in Dublin recently training with the Irish 4 x 100 relay squad. She was included in the squad following her impressive sprint performances over the last few seasons.
The Club held a Javelin coaching clinic with top coach Louis Wildenboer, originally from South Africa but now based in Ireland. Louis has two All Ireland Javelin medals and has the distinction of completing the longest javelin throw in the country the last two years. He was appointed National Javelin Coach by the Athletic Association of Ireland in 2011. Louis spent the day in Bandon doing sessions for beginners and advanced javelin throwers.
The European Veterans Indoor Athletic Championships took place recently in Ghent, Belgium. Representing Bandon AC were Priscilla OβSullivan and Carmel Crowley. Priscilla finished fifth in the Weight for Distance with a throw of 11.88m. She also competed in discus, hammer and shot putt. Carmel ran in the Cross Country event where she finished in sixth place.
Upcoming events in the athletics calendar include the West Cork Athletic Championships to be held in CIT Track over two days on April 17th and 25th. The event has a 12 noon start with Junior and Senior events being open. The full programme can be seen on the Bandon AC website www.bandonac.org.
