Double Gold for Longford athletes at the National Community Games Finals
There was brilliant Gold medal success for County Longford athletes Emma Brennan and Joe Rooney at the Community Games National Finals in Carlow on Saturday last.
Emma Brennan: Gold U-14 Girls 800m
Emma Brennan, of Drumlish-Ballinamuck, executed a perfectly paced 800 metres to claim victory in the Under-14 girls event in a new personal best time of 2:22. In the very hot conditions, Emma moved into first place past Cork’s Rachel Ledwith approaching the final bend before finishing strongly for the win at the end of the two-lap race.
Joe Rooney: Gold U-8 Boys 60m
Further National success for Longford came when Mostrim’s Joe Rooney sprinted to gold in the boys Under-8 60 metres. Joe showed quick feet after a superb start and was the clear winner crossing the line first with his terrific run. He was soon greeted and congratulated by fellow Edgeworthstown native Jimmy Connell who was the event MC.
El’Nathan Okoh, of Longford South, was the county’s other top-four performer. He claimed a fourth place finisher’s medal for his fast run in the Under-12 boys 200 metres.
Having qualified from the Regional finals held recently in Clones, a number of other athletes from the county took part at Saturday’s finals held at the impressive SETU Carlow sports campus. Many excellent performances were recorded, with some narrowly missing out on the medals, on a testing day for competing in such high temperatures.
Longford success at the National Masters Track & Field Championships
Elsewhere, the National Masters Track and Field Championships took place in Tullamore with two medals achieved by Longford Athletics Club members. Fiona Gettings won silver in the F40 3000 metres clocking an excellent 10:28 in the very warm conditions. Following her good results in road races of late, Fiona ran strongly on her track debut and continues to excel having performed with distinction on the GAA fields over many years.
Earlier, Peter Duffy won gold in the M75 5000 metres race walk. The temperatures, along with the twelve-and-a-half laps, provided a true test of stamina but Peter stuck to the task to claim the age category win.