1st July 2018 at Tullamore Harriers Stadium
Well done to Longford Athletics Club’s U11 Girls Rachel Keenan (Ardagh), Aibhe Foley (Melview) and Grace Kelly (Rooskey) who competed in Tullamore last weekend in the Athletics Ireland National Juvenile Games. Their performances in early June at the Connacht Outdoor Championships gave them the opportunity to go forward to Nationals in this annual paired event.
Rachel clocked 9.52 seconds and her partner Clara Forbes, 9.37 seconds, to win Silver in the U11 Girls 60m at the Connacht Championships in Claremorris. As Clara was not available to go forward the place was offered to Aibhe Foley to make her debut to the All-Ireland platform. The girls finished 11th place out of 15 pairs with a combined time of 19.92 seconds.
In the afternoon Rachel was on duty again, this time with Grace Kelly as her partner in the U11 Girls 600m race. They were up against a very competitive field as 5 of the 26 runner crossed the finish line in under 2 minutes which is an excellent standard for their age group. With very similar times, Rachel, 2.07.15 minutes, and Grace, 2.07.50 minutes, the girls finished in 12th place overall.
It is a wonderful achievement to reach All-Ireland competition so the Club is very proud of all three girls making the journey to Tullamore and putting themselves against the clock!