Following a great Cross Country and Indoor season, the Striders made the best possible start to the Track & Field season, winning the Best Club shield at the ultra competitive event hosted by Ferrybank AC. With all age groups represented from the juvenile U8’s up to our juniors and also including our senior ladies and mens, the Striders put in a heroic effort to win one of the most prestigious Track & Field club awards, in the calendar. Many of our group of recent joiners, mostly in the younger age groups, made their competitive debut and all performed fantastically. Hopefully it was a great experience for all and they enjoyed their first day out, wearing the black singlet. There were so many Striders in action, across all the different disciplines, it was impossible to keep up with all the great results. Therefore we’ll give a big USAC shout out to TJ Murphy, Maitiu Wall, Billy Carney, Adam Burke, Donagh Grennan, Darragh Mackey, Ceilim Kehoe, Hannah Carney, Ailbhe Mackey, Gearoid Byrne, Eanna Grennan, Romy Belton, Maeve Burke, Moya Corbett, Sam Myers, Sean Lennon, Luca O’Connor, Moya Belton, Cosmo Hewlett, Myles Hewlett, Ben Myers, Eoin Shannon, Aidan Kehoe, Isabel Bawden, Aisling Ryan, Ciara Murphy, Kelly Corbett, Darragh Flannelly, Owen Lennon, Oisin MacEochaidh, Aidan Shannon, Adam O’Connor, Eve Byrne, Louise Doyle, Erinn Shannon, Claire Doyle, Aoife NiEochaidh, Aaron Browne, Ryan Kielthy, Conor Murphy, Alannah Byrne, Rebecca Bawden and Aoife Muldoon. In the senior 1,500m event Alan O’Connor and Sonya Byrne put in their usual strong performances, which all contributed to a Striders victory, by a single point!
The day was very much about all athletes contributing to the team effort, through participation, and perhaps individual performances shouldn’t be highlighted. However TJ Murphy, competing for the first time, won the U8 60m, U8 200m, U8 Long Jump and to top it off, TJ moved up an age group, to help the U9 team win the 4x100m relay. An exceptional performance. The moment of the day was Cosmo Hewlett beating his twin brother, Myles, by inches, as the Striders teams took first and second, in the U15 4x100m relay event. Go Cosmo!
