Super Silver medal winning performance by Darragh McManus.

Congratulations and well done to Darragh McManus who won a silver medal in the under ten boys 100 meters final at the National Community Games Finals held on Sunday 26^th August in Athlone. This was a fantastic performance by Darragh and shows what a future in sprinting he has.  In his heat, Darragh finished first to qualify for the semi final with ease.  In a tough semi-final, Darragh was tied for 1^st place and qualified for the final.  Darragh had a great start in the final and used his strength to run a smooth race throughout to gain the silver medal.  In sprinting, the winners are the athletes who slow down the least over the last 20 meters or so. Well done Darragh.  The club had a number of other athletes competing over the weekend.  Cian Mc Phillips ran a strong race in the under 12 boys 600 meters to finish third and qualify for the final.  There was a lot of shoving and pushing at the start of the final which did not suit Cian and during the final he had to jump over a fallen athlete. Despite these obstacles, Cian finished in an excellent sixth position and can look forward to this event next year where he will still be underage and a definite medal potential. Ikeya Collins competed in the Under 14 girls 800 meters and finished in an excellent fourth position in her semi-final and qualified for the final.  Ikeya ran a strong race in the final and finished well in a tough competitive race.  Again like Cian she is underage again next year and certainly can look forward to this event.  Sarah Mc Philips competed in the under eight 80 meters and finished third in her heat and qualified for the semi-final.  Sarah ran an excellent semi-final finishing in fifth place and only missed out on the final by one place.  Sarah can be well please with her performances over the weekend.  Hannah Glennon competed in the under eight 60 meters hurdles and qualified for the semi-final after running a strong heat.  There was a false start in the semi-final and this had a negative effect on Hannah who had strong starts in both her heat and the first start in the semi-final.  No doubt Hannah will learn from this experience and ran very well over the weekend.  The club would like to say well done to all the club and county athletes who competed over the weekend, you were excellent ambassadors for your club and county and everyone is proud of your performances.