The weekend ahead is a very busy one in athletics with fixtures at home and abroad, including an event in the city on Sunday morning.
The World Cross country Championships are in Amman, Jordan on Saturday with just a couple of Irish athletes competing.
Also on Saturday the Schools Cross Country International is in Bangor, Wales and Kate Veale of St Augustines College is on the Irish Team in the Intermediate race.
On Saturday and Sunday the All-Ireland Juvenile Indoor Championships are in Nenagh with lots of Waterford athletes competing. A full timetable is with all clubs and also available on Athletics Ireland Website.
In Waterford City on Sunday morning next the Waterford AC 4 miles open road race, sponsored by Alfie Hale Sports and Mizuno, will have an 11am start from Plunkett Train Station with entries at The Granary on the Quay from 9.30am. The race finishes at the RSC in Kilbarry after coming over the bridge and down the Quay and a circuit in the city.
Looking further ahead, the All-Ireland Juvenile Indoors section two will be in Magharafelt, Co Derry on April 4th and 5th and on the 5th the Bupa Run is in Dublin, and also on the 5th there’s a 4 miles road race in Kilmurray, North Clare, at 1.30.
Waterford AC
The Waterford AC Juvenile athletes and their coaches were out marching in the St Patrick’s Day Parade in the city and looked wery well in their club colours.
Juvenile training is on every Tuesday and Thursday at the RSC at 7pm and new members are welcome. One proviso for all is that they train and compete for the club in competitions. Regardless of standards it’s only fair to coaches who give of their time that there is something to look forward to; training and competing is what athletics is all about.
The Club is hoping to get a large contingent of youngsters at the Kilmacow Open Sports on Easter Monday so plenty of time to prepare. County championship programmes are now available, again with the intention of being prepared for them.
Clubs
Presently there are the following clubs in Waterford: Waterford and Ferrybank in the city operating out of the RSC, Tramore, West Waterford AC in the Dungarvan area, An Ghaeltacht in the Ardmore and Old Parish area and KCK in the Kilgobnet//Colligan/Kilbrien area. A number have their own websites and ideally for convenience and identification reasons athletes contemplating joining a club should compete with the club in their own immediate area, especially in country areas.
Munster Masters
On Sunday last in Beaufort, Co Kerry the Munster Masters Road Championships were held and athletes from Waterford clubs competed. Corina Walsh, West Waterford, won the ladies over 35 title and Larry Kennedy, Waterford AC was third home in the over 50 age group.
Waterford A.C. were third in both the Men’s over 35 and Men’s over 50 club team sections and the Waterford county teams had similar placings in the same events
Awards
At the Annual Athletics Ireland Juvenile Awards Banquet in Arklow on Saturday last Nicola Power, Ferrybank, received the Waterford award for 2008.
An athlete from each of the 32 counties gets one for their performances at the All-Ireland Juvenile Track and Field Championships each year and special presentations were also made to two West Waterford athletes – Kate Veale for Race Walking and Thomas Houlihan for the Pole Vault.
