Westport athletes took home a total of 7 gold, 3 silver and 1 bronze medal at the recent Connaught Indoor Championships on February 24th and 25th.  This continued the club’s remarkable success in juvenile athletics. The highly impressive indoor arena of AIT hosted these championships.  

The first Westport AC medal of the weekend went to Jack Sweeney who secured the gold medal in the U12 long jump.  However, Jack was not finished there as he also took silver in the high jump.  Great jumping from the talented Westport AC youngster. Staying with the high jump, David Marrey retained his gold medal from last year by winning the U13 event.  Roisin O’Brien continued her excellent recent form by taking 2nd place in the U15 girls 800m.  Roisin in now emerging as a serious talent in her right following in the very successful footsteps of older sisters Aoife and Saoirse.  Next up was Maggie Chambers who destroyed the field with a PB of 10.37m in the U15 shot put.  Maggie’s winning throw was over 2m longer than her nearest rival.  It is looking good for Maggie this year following some injury problems in 2017.  The U15 boy’s shot put event brought further success to Westport AC with Harry Sheridan claiming the silver medal.  Conn McNamara dug in tenaciously to hold on to the bronze medal position in the U16 1500m race.  A hard fought and well deserved medal for Conn.  The next 3 medals came from Westport AC’s most consistent performers over the past number of years.  Saoirse O’Brien took double gold in the U17 800m and 1500m races.  Incredible running by Saoirse, who almost lapped the entire field in the 1500m race, which is no mean feat.  Adam Sheridan easily won the U17 shot put, following up on his remarkable successes at national and international level in 2017.  Jack Maher, put in an impressive performance taking gold the U19 1500m race. A super race by Jack who also left the senior athletes in his wake.  Jack followed this up with a 4th place finish in the 800m, narrowly missing out on the 3rd spot.  The final medal of the weekend went to the eldest of the talented O’Brien sisters, Aoife, who took gold in the senior women’s 1500m.  A great run by Aoife who is currently juggling her athletics and leaving cert studies.  Other Westport athletes who narrowly missed out on medals included Sarah Mulroy who was 4th in the U14 long jump and Leila O’Malley who was 5th in the same event.   Others who did themselves and the club proud over the 2 days were Anna O’Donnell (U13), Lilas Houalet (U14) and Sarah Staunton (U18).  All battled to the bitter end in pursuit of glory.  

Well done to all athletes who wore the Westport colours with great dignity.