Westport Athletics Club U9-U12 athletes travelled to Athlone last Saturday to compete in the Connaught Outdoor championships. Westport AC had a very successful day with a huge medal haul for the club. The day started with the U9 girls team of Lucy Corcoran, Olivia Costello, Rhea Hutchinson and Leila O'Malley storming home in first place in the 4x100m relay in a time of 72.27sec. This was followed by the U9 boys team of Ryan Mulchrone, Fionn O'Ruain, Finley McEvilly and Adam Nugent winning the bronze in the 4x100m relay in 69.96sec. In the u9 girls team 60m Leila O'Malley and Lucy Corcoran had fantastic performances winning gold in a combined time of 20.92sec. Lucy teamed up with Rhea Hutchinson to come second in the U9 girls team 300m in 2:06.35. Leila teamed up with Olivia Costello to take the silver in the U9s long jump with combined jumps of 5.35m. In the U9 boys Adam Nugent teamed up with Fionn O'Ruain to win the silver in the team 300m in a time of 112.12sec.

In the U10 girls Laura Moran and Fionnuala McLaughlin joined up in the 60m coming home in a time 20.25sec resulting in 2nd place. Laura, teamed with Roisin O'Brien also won the bronze in the U10 girls 500m in a time of 3:31.42. Emily Chambers and Maggie Chambers won gold in the U10 girls Turbo Javelin with a combined throw of 25.18m. Harry Sheridan and Niall McGreal also won gold in the U10 boys Turbo Javelin throwing a combined 31.30m. In the U10 boys Sean Heaney and Conal Dawson were teamed to take home the bronze medal in a time of 3:27.95.

The U11 boys saw Shane O'Malley and Ted Horan join forces to win a silver in the 60m sprint in a combined time of 19.13sec. Shane then teamed up with Richard O'Donnell to take home another silver in the U11 boys 600m in 3:58.30.

In the U12 girls 600m Saoirse O'Brien ran a fine race winning a silver medal in a time of 1:52.57. In the U12 boys 60m Cillian Heaney flew home in a time of 8.70secs winning the silver medal. Westport AC also cleaned upin the U12 boys Shot Putt with Adam Sheridan winning gold with a brilliant throw of 9.46m and Ronan O'Donnell the bronze with a throw of 6.90m.

All of these U9-U11 athletes now progress to the All Ireland finals, which take place in Finn Valley, Co. Donegal on June 29th and the U12s to Tullamore in July.