Weekly Notes Ending 23/02/2017

National Senior Indoor Championships

As a coach we have different barometers with which we measure success in sport. If we use winning as our only indicator then in sport as in life we would have many losers. Luckily we have other indicators and a young up and coming athlete making a final and performing at a very high standard is one of those. Technically a barometer is anything that indicates change and for the last year we have seen that with a succession of top class performances at provincial and national level by our athletes. 
Today’s national senior indoor finals was a continuation of that trend even though our only representation was from one of our more inexperienced racers at this level Aoife Delargy. A series of minor niggles kept Paul White , Robbie Bennett and Tom Hennessey, three serious medal prospects out of the championships. But up stepped Aoife Delargy on Saturday running determinedly to finish third in her heat and proceed to the 800m final on Sunday. Sunday’s final started fast with Aoife towards the back of the group. At the 400m halfway mark Aoife had moved up to fifth. Running on strongly she climbed to fourth just outside the medals by the finish. This by anyone’s standards has got to be considered a major success and we look forward to her competing for a top three finish in next year’s competition. 
On a more local level Ciara Cummins ran the county Novice 3000m road race in Moyne today and came away with a fine win to continue her domination of the county road & cross country scene. 
  Well done to both these young ladies and they can now get in a good block of training before the outdoor track season kicks off.