Day 1 of the Woodies National Senior Indoor Championships got off to a flying start in Belfast today.  Claire Brady who is in the form of her life had an outstanding race in the heat of her 60m to lower her PB to 7.43 secs, which was the fastest of the day.  The 60m final will include many household names like Ailish McSweeney, Kelly Proper, Joan Healy and Anna Boyle.  Good luck Claire.

In the 60m men's race Seye Ogunlewe had a fantastic run to clock 7.00 secs also a new PB but what a time to do it.  Seye now progresses to the next round with the 3rd fastest time from the heats and will have to run another fast time to be in the medals.  This is an amazing outcome for Seye who will find himself lining up with the likes of Paul Hession!  Well done Seye and good luck.

In the men's 200m heats David Campbell and Paul Brady also performed outstandingly.  Both had great races and new PB's of 25.42 and 24.72 respectively. 

Christine Campion also had a fantastic run in the girls u15 60m hurdles.  Christine won the race in a fantastic time of 9.80 secs.  Shauna Minnock also competed in the girls u15 Long Jump and High Jump.  Shauna jumped 4.05m in the long jump and 130m in the high jump but was unlucky to be outside the medals.  This was a great experience for all athletes competing in a top class facility.

Sunday is final day and along with Claire and Seye we will also have Sandra Lawler competing in the 60m hurdles alongside Derval O'Rourke and Kieron Stout competing in the Shot.  Good luck to all.  You have done us proud!

Full results of day 1 Here

Full results of Juvenile races Here  and click on Irish Indoor Champs. Juvenile results.

Next weekend will see Ireland's top athletes in action in the Woodies National Indoor Championships in Belfast.  Celbridge AC will once again have athletes in action. 

Claire Brady who is in fantastic form at the moment and fresh from a new PB time of 7.48secs in London at the weekend will be competing in the womens 60m.  Claire defeated Leevale's Ailis McSweeney who is also competing in Belfast. McSweeney is a prolific indoor racer who has taken an AAAs bronze medal on no less than 3 occasions.

Sandra Lawler will also compete in the 60m Hurdles against Derval O'Rourke.  Sandra has a good record in this competition and will hope to continue this.  

Club Chairman, Kieron Stout will also compete in the Mens Shot Putt.  Kieron has competed in the Nationals this year (1st) and was well up on his distance this time last year.  Kieron was unlucky to finish 4th in the same event last year.

Up and coming junior athletes of Seye Ogunlewe, Darragh McGee and David Campbell will also compete in the 60m.  This is a great experience for these athletes and we wish them the best of luck.

Also competing in the juvenile events will be Shauna Minnock in the High Jump and Long Jump and Christine Campion in the hurdles.

 
On Sunday last Celbridge AC had a great representation in Nenagh for day 1 of the Leinster Indoor Championships.  For the first time ever all the relays were held on the same day.  These were run in conjunction with the junior/senior and masters individual competition.

The first relay of the day was the girls u13 in which Aoife Tynan, Roisin McConnon, Elana Reilly and Elaine Wilson ran a great race.  Unfortunately these relays are done on time and only the best 4 teams on the day get into the final.  The girls ran great but did not make the final but for most of these girls it was a first time running indoors and was a great experience.

Then came the boys u13 of Ciaran O'Connor, Ross Hackett, Colin Lawlor and Jack Deasy.  They too had a great run and was unlucky not to make the final.  But this experience will stand to these boys when it comes to the individual events.

The u15 girls team of Christine Campion, Michelle O'Dea, Laura Smyth and Shauna Minnock were very unlucky altogether.  They were told they did not make the top 4 times for the final but the results show that they did qualify!  So we will have to keep an eye on these girls in the outdoor relays - they will be looking for justice!

The u19 boys team of  David Campbell, Ciaran Larkin, Eoin Moore and Darragh McGee were the first Celbridge team of the day to win medals!  The boys had a great run to claim the silver medals in a race that was not without drama.  Well done boys!

In the even age groups the u14 girls team were first out with Michelle O'Dea, Sinead O'Connor, Katie Donaghy and Claire Kennedy.  They too ran well but did not make the final.

The boys u14 team of Matthew Dwyer, Alan Carroll, Lorcan Everard,Danny Cahill and Ross Hackett had a great race in their heat and had a very anxious wait to hear if they qualified for the final.  They did but were just pipped at the line for the bronze medal.  Well done lads and like the girls u15 ... watch this space at the outdoor relays.

The girls u16 team of Vivian Fleischer, Christine Campion, Aoibheann O'Farrell and Aoife O'Broin were unlucky to drop the baton in their race and did not make the final.

The girls u18 team of Jordan Merkele, Niamh Sheehy, Jamie Garland, Sinead Lawler and Siobhan Brady were lucky in that their race was a straight final and the girls ran fantastic.  Jordan in her first outing for Celbridge AC had a great start followed by Niamh and Jamie and Sinead took the baton in 3rd place.  On the back straight in front of all their supporters Sinead powered past St. Coca's athlete to claim a very well deserved silver medal.  Well done girls.

The master athletes had another fantastic outing winning a bumper amount of medals.  The Master individual field events took place during the relays with Steffen Fleischer winning gold in the high jump.  Michael Tynan won silver in the high Jump with a new PB.  Finola Moore won the High Jump, Long Jump and 2nd in the 60m while teammate Deirdre Sheehy won gold in the Shot Putt, 60m and silver in the long jump.  Paula Reilly continued on her winning ways with gold in the 60m,(equaling CBP time), 200m and Shot.  Lant Carroll got gold in the 400m after a fine display of running and 2nd in the 60m.  John Molloy won gold in both the 60m and 200m. Its great to see him back competing after injury.

Eamon Tynan competed in the 3k race and got a new PB improving on his time last week.  Martin Kennedy also competed in the 800m and was unlucky to finish in 4th place by just 3 secs.

Sandra Lawler competed in the senior 60m and the 60m hurdles winning the hurdles in a new Championship Record.

Seye Ogunlewe competed in the junior 60m sprint finishing in 2nd place in a very fast race.  Seye later competed along with teammates David  Campbell, Darragh McGee and Paul Brady to take the gold medal in the junior relay.

David and Darragh also competed in the junior competition for experience and ran very fast times but were just outside qualifying for the final.

All in all a brilliant day for Celbridge AC and all the athletes concerned.  Well done!

Day 1 of the Leinster Indoors competition takes place in Nenagh on Sunday next 31st January.  For the first time both even and uneven ages relays will compete on the same day.  The relays are the only events for juveniles on this day. The coaches will let athletes know what teams are going.  The junior/senior/masters individual events will take place on this day also.  There is no timetable as such but click here for programme of events.  As you can see the field events will take place during the relays and the track when the relays are finished.

Directions to Nenagh in menu under directions.  Don't forget its cold there so wrap up.  Good Luck to all

Congratulations to all our master athletes who travelled to Nenagh for the National Indoor Masters competition on Sunday last.  Celbridge were well represented and as a result came home with a fantastic total of 9 medals.  5 golds, 3 silver and a bronze.

In the ladies section Paula Reilly in her first ever athletics competition produced a fantastic run in the 60m (M2) to beat the favourite Geraldine Finnegan from Dunleer. Both ladies clocked the same time but the photo finish was in Paula's favour.  Paula then competed in the 200m (M2) and won gold as well.  Finola Moore competed in the M3 Long Jump and High Jump and won gold in both.  Finola was placed 4th in the 60m also.  Deirdre Sheehy had a great race to win bronze in the M3 60m and went on to take silver in the Shot Putt and Long Jump.

Kieron Stout, our Chairman, consistant as always took gold in the Shot Putt.

John Molloy was not so lucky with the 60m as he failed to hear the beep from the gun so got a bad start. However, he made up for that by a great run in the M5 200m to take the silver medal.

Lant Carroll competed in the M3 60m and 400m but was just outside the medals.  Michael Tynan competed in the High Jump and was unlucky to finish 4th.  Michael also competed in the M2 3000m alongside his brother Eamonn to finish in a great time but they too were unlucky to be just outside the medals.

Well done to all and roll on the Leinsters next week!