Rain of biblical proportions fell on Thursday night just as Fab 5 was about to kick off at Mary Peters Track. It didn’t dampen the spirits of the Newcastle AC squad though even if proceedings had to be postponed due to a deluge of rain that fell upon the track and made conditions tougher than usual once things got underway.

Cliona McAleenan, clearly knew that she had been training hard over the summer between various summer camps and even on holidays as she arrived at the track ready and raring to go with her number 1 supporter, Uncle Kevin, making the trip to see her run and jump. After a soaking waiting for her 100m to start, she flew up the track and led from the gun to take the win her heat. The other heat had the quicker times though Clionas time was still good enough for the Bronze medal. She swiftly headed across to the long Jump pit and put in a jump of 2.98m to take the win. There is no doubt that the multi event gene in the McAleenan household is strong as the baby of the house has clearly cemented her intentions to excel across all disciplines.

Sophie Kerr, another of a group of fantastic club siblings, competed alongside Cliona. Sophie finished in 10th place in Long Jump but was unfortunately hampered by someone crossing lanes in front of her in the 100m which greatly impacted her acceleration finishing in 14th place.

Emily Kerr, opting to give the longer distance a miss after a busy week of Summer activities jumped 2.56m for 10th in Long Jump after a strong finish in the 100m.

Rua Gosling finished 16th in the Long Jump and ran a stunning 800m. This young athlete is a victim of the age boundaries and although only 9 was racing against girls nearly 2 years older than her. However she was spectacular holding onto that main group of runners the whole way round. She is definitely one to watch going into next year.

Older brother, Senan Gosling also against boys nearly 2 years older in the 800m, ran a parkrun PB last week and running the wave of this achievement he pushed hard to finish his 800m 2.53.

James Carson entered all the events in preparation for schools combined events in September. He finished 6th in 100m, 4th in Shot achieving nearly 8m with the 4kg weight and 10th in 800m in a strong time of 2.36.

Paddy Sherrard and Ronan Grant fought it out in the Shot for 6th and 7th place with Ronan edging the win between the club mates and took that knowing on the track, Paddy would always beat him.

Paddy also joined James in the 800 and with track conditions very difficult he finished just behind James to take 11th place.

Fab 5 is an amazing, fully inclusive event and has been a springboard for many Seniors to try new events and revisit events that they once competed in, ‘back in the day’ at schools. Senior member Niall Carson, demonstrated and led by example as a multi eventer and threw 27.29 in Javelin closely followed by Paul Gosling for 5th and 6th place with only 13 cms separating them.

Niall then progressed on to the Senior Men’s 800m with a very clear goal, to beat his son James’ time set earlier in the evening. With James track side with the stop clock, the loser had to buy McDonalds and with a strong first 400m, there was sweat being broken at the finish line. In the end, less than 2 seconds separated the two and family bragging rights went to the head of the household with a 2.34 finish. Sources have also confirmed that James coincidently left his wallet at home on Thursday too.

Siobhan Grant continued her preparations for National Masters Championship next week taking 1st place in the Ladies Javelin, throwing further than the younger lady participants and enjoying a very successful year within the throwing events. On Sunday she will travel to Tullamore to participate in the All Ireland in Hammer, Shot and Javelin within the V35 category after her success at Ulsters.

Joanne Mills continues to be a track regular at 800m and although the rain had stopped falling, the damage to the track was irreversible with everyone’s times slower than normal. With a warm up cut short as the programme was brought forward, Joanne took to the line in the U18 and Senior ladies 800m and had a solid run finishing second overall and taking 1st Senior lady in a time of 2.24. 2 days later Joanne would head to Rostrevor to win the Rossi 5k, phenomenal running from Joanne.

The Final Fab 5 of this year will be held 22nd August and with the track events to include the 1 mile distance, it will be an event that shouldn’t be missed.

The weather has not been kind at all to our track and field athletes this year and Saturday was no different unfortunately.

Day 3 of the National Juvenile Championships took place in Tullamore with Hermione and Noah Sherdian both taking on the 1500m

Hermione was facing torrential downpours during her U14 1500m race but she put in an amazing run to cross the line in 5.00.02.

The sun decided to make an appearance for Noahs U19 1500m though conditions on the track were far from perfect he still managed to run a solid 4.18.33.

Great performances against the best there is and that concluded the National Juvenile Championships for this year spread over 4 weekends the past 6 weeks. The club was delighted to see so many yellow and red vests competing at the highest level and doing really well and a special word of thanks to the families who travelled to Tullamore and rearranged holidays to attend the events.