Colfer selected for European U20 Championships
Leila Colfer (#5) has been selected for the Irish u20 European team. Photos: Perri Williams
What a week for Irish athletics. On the back of a very successful European u23 championships, the medals at European and World events continued to roll in. The European Youth Olympics in Skopje, North Macedonia, saw Team Ireland take a total of 5 medals. In Bochum, Germany, Kate O’Connor continued to make history. The Combined Events trailblazer took gold in the World University Games with another Irish record to boost. O’Connor added the gold world medal to her silver World Indoors and bronze European indoor medals from earlier this year. Nicola Tuthill added a silver World University Games medal to her European U23 one, marking this her most successful year ever.
Back here in Ireland, the U20 selection for the forthcoming European U20 Championships in Finland was announced. Carlow’s Leila Colfer was amongst those selected. The St Laurence O’Toole AC athlete secured her place on the 4x100m relay team.
On Saturday, the masters’ athletes were in action at the All-Ireland Masters Track and Field, where 17 medals were won by Carlow athletes, 6 of them gold. It was a double gold for David Hayde (SLOT) in the 100m and 200m over 55. While Teresa Doyle had a comfortable win in the 400m.
On Sunday, the St Laurence O’Toole ladies were back in the National League final again this year. Competing in the Premier Division for the second year running, they finished 4th overall. The top performer was Chloe Ryan, who scored a double victory, with a win in both the shot putt and discus.
It is a big deal. A very big one, when you manage to qualify for a European Championships. The journey to get there can be formidable, with plenty of highs and lows, sacrifice, hard work and an equal amount of patience. Leila Colfer is currently ranked fifth on the Irish u20 100m list with a personal best of 11.89 seconds. The St Laurence O’Toole AC athlete has demonstrated consistency in her performance this year. She dipped under 12 seconds for the first time ever back in May at the IFAM meet in Brussels, recording 11.94 seconds.
Subsequently recording a string of sub 12 second performances over the months of May, June and July. A month after that IFAM meeting, Colfer donned her first u20 Irish vest at the u20 International in Mannheim, Germany. Competing for Ireland in the 100m, she was also selected for the Irish 4x100m relay that finished second to the Great Britian, securing a European u20 qualification in the process. A week later Colfer took third in the All-Ireland u20 100m which was instrumental to her European u20 4x100m relay inclusion.
She will travel with the Irish team to Finland for the European u20 Championships which takes place from 7-10 August.
The St Laurence O’Toole ladies qualified for the National League final for the second year in a row. Finishing in fourth place, they were just five and a half points off Ratoath AC who were third. Dundrum South Dublin were runaway winners with 153.5 points, 31 points clear of last year’s champions Leevale AC, who finished second.
The team competed across 18 of the 21 events scoring maximum points in two disciplines. Those wins were curtsey of Chloe Ryan who won both the shot putt and the discus. Ryan was the only athlete to surpass the 10m mark in the shot putt. Putting all four throws beyond 10m, finishing with a best throw of 10.23m. Her discus was equally noteworthy.
Winning by almost three meters, her best throw of 36.53 came from the third round to secure another distribution of max points. The throwers were the dominant force for the club on the day. Aside from Ryan’s double win, Susie Mitchell demonstrated her prowess as she spun the hammer over the 25m line to finish 2nd overall and gain those valuable 7 points for the team. Mitchell added a further seven points to the overall tally as she finished second in the weight for distance.
Of the track events, the club were without Molly Scott, Arabella Adekoya, Lelia Colfer, Sive O’Toole and Jennifer Sawyer, all notable contenders for maximum points. In their absence, Cassie O’Byrne kept the Carlow flag flying trackside with a second place in the 400m.
Fellow sprinter Sofia Grandjo doubled up in both the 100m and 200m, taking third place in both.
The younger athletes may have be deft over the sprinting events, however the mantle of gathering points in the distance events was thrust onto the shoulders of the masters’ athletes. Bronwyn McDonald fresh from her master’s over 40 800m victory the day before, ran over a second faster to secure third spot in the 800m.
A race that was won by Eimear Maher (Dundrum South Dublin). Maher finished 3rd in the European u23 1,500m just the week before. Another masters athlete to don the club colours two days in a row was Maria Dunne. Dunne finished 2nd in the master’s over 45 All-Ireland on Saturday.
On Sunday she opted for the long distance of 1,500m where she secured three points for the club. Dunne was up against a very strong field which included two European u23 medallist: Eimer Maher and Anika Thompson. Thompson ceded victory to Maher on this occasion, feeling the effects of her 10,000 gold and 5,000m bronze European medals the week before.
Elsewhere on the track Emily Lawler competed in the hurdles while Clare Archbold ensured representation in the walks. The longest race of the day was contested by Leah Lawlor, who added four more points to the clubs growing total.
While field eventers Chloe Ryan and Susie Mitchelle gained substantial points for the club, there was a contribution from other athletes too. Molly Travers finished joint second in the pole vault, clearing 1.85m, almost getting the magic 2m mark on two occasion. In the Long Jump Edel Hayden produced a best of 4.09m to gain more points for the club.
Earlier in the day Hayden grabbed the first points of the day, after taking 5th place in the High Jump. Isabelle McCormack finished 4th in the javelin adding 5 points to the pot.
Their fourth placing cements their position in the premier division for 2026. It is hard to imagine that just last year, (2024) the club re-entered the league in the Premier Division for the first time in over two decades. The progress of the ladies into top level Irish and indeed international competition in the past year has been unequivocally meteoric for the female section of the club, heralding a new era for Carlow athletics.
The Masters athletes were in action last Saturday in Tullamore.
Starting with over 35s and going as far as one can possibly go (the oldest last Sunday was over 85) they competed across the full complement of events, that are offer to senior athletes. For some competing in Masters competitions are an extension of their competitive juvenile and senior days. For others it marks a turning point in their lives, where exercise has oozed the competitive juices and led to the discovery of a competitive world in their not so juvenile years.
Carlow competitors made an indelible impact across the master’s events taking home 17 medals, 6 of them gold. It was David Hayde (SLOT) who came top of the table, taking gold in both the 100m and 200m over 55. Hayde is no stranger to Masters Athletics and no stranger to national titles either. Having already tested his toes in International Masters waters, he continues to successfully negotiate the challenges of distance running as he climbs the age group ladder.
David Kidd has been racewalking for decades. Back in 1998 he competed in the World u20 Championships in Annecy, France, where he finished 22nd. The former National u20 and senior title holder is still engaged in winning ways 27 years later. Dropping a distance to 5000m, Kidd easily won the master’s over 40s at the Masters All-Ireland last weekend. His time of 24.52 minutes might be a few minutes slower than a decade and a half ago but his technique is still impeccable.
Keith Pollard had to fight hard for his gold medal in the over 45 400m. As the athletes came off the final bend Pollard and Milford’s Brian Boyce were level. Pollard in lane 5 and Boyce in Lane 6. Both athletes dug deep and with 50m to go, neither had managed to untangle a decisive gold medal position. Over the final 50m Pollard somehow muscled up that added power that enabled him to cross the line just eight hundredths of a second ahead of the Donegal man, to claim the gold.
Fellow clubmate Teresa Doyle had things a little easier. Going up the back straight Doyle looked like she had the advantage, as she was closing in on Sligo’s Sarah Jane Boyce one lane outside of her. The final bend confirmed her lead as she headed down the home straight well ahead of Boyce. Crossing the finishing line in 62.66, the gold medal was her’s. Doyle also took 2nd in the 200m.
Bronwyn McDonald went into the competition with just one thing on her mind – a gold medal. Bronwyn McDonald came out of that competition with that very gold medal around her neck. Clocking 2.20.48 McDonald was almost two second ahead of Dublin’s Rachel Murphy.
Carlow’s oldest competitor on the day was Willie O’Toole. O’Toole took silver in the shot putt and replicated that colour medal in the weight for distance. At over 70, his 9.44m throw came from the final round of the shot putt, securing his silver medal.
