Weekly Notes Ending 20/04/2018

Nenagh Olympic Awards 

​Nenagh Olympic held it's annual Club awards last night, in recognition of achievements and performances by Nenagh athletes in various athletic events during 2017. This is always a lovely event with the younger athletes able to look on and be inspired to pick up one of these awards in the future. 
Award winners on the night were:
Best track performance: Robert Bennett
Best field performance: Joshua Delaney
Best Cross Country performance: Cian Hodgins and Ben Walshe were jointwinners.
Most improved athlete for 2017: James Sage
Best Team performance: Senior men's 4 × 100m relay team of Robert Bennett, Dan Finnerty, Liam Finn, Michael Quilligan, Paul White and Oisin Fitzpatrick. 
Athlete of the year: Sean Carolan
Well done to all of these athletes and their coaches. Their dedication to training and hard work has been recognised by the club and they have brought great pride to the club and their families as a result.
Pictured: Ben Walshe, Joshua Delaney, Sean Carolan, Cian Hodgins, James Sage, Oisin Fitzpatrick.

Irish University Championships

This weekend saw the start of the outdoor season with the Irish University championships being held in the The Mary Peters track in Belfast. We had six athletes taking part and Aoife Delargy got us off to a great start when finishing a very close second in the 800m in 2.19. Aoife continues to deliver at this level and we look forward to the rest of her season with great anticipation.
Paul White UL went into these championships a little unsure of his form after a recent injury but acquitted himself well with a fine 3rd place finish in the 400m in 48.4s. This will get him back on track and he can look forward with confidence to the rest of the season. He also helped UL to the silver medals in the 4x400 relay. 
These championships saw a welcome return to form at this level for Ciara Cummins , DCU , when finishing 3rd in the 3000m steeplechase. Great to see her back on the podium. 
One of our National senior 4x100 relay winning team Oisín Fitzpatrick ran a brilliant third leg for Carlow IT and they came home with the silver medals. 
Tom Hennessey running outdoors for the first time in 18 months had a busy weekend when finishing 5th in the 800m and then helped UL to second place in the 4x400m on a team which included his club mate Paul White. He will be a little disappointed with his 800m result but I’m sure he can put this behind him very quickly and look forward to the rest of the outdoor season. 
Margaret Mary Grace reached the final of the 400m representing Waterford IT and finished 7th in 62.2s. Well done Margaret Mary. 
A lot of these athletes will be out again next weekend when the junior and U23 championships are being held in Templemore.