Ratoath AC’s success story continues to run...and run

ATHLETICS Meath athletes make impact on European stage

Having won the B final 12 months ago, Ratoath AC reached the A final this year in the European DNA u-20 Club Championships last weekend at Pombal, Portugal. This is the third year in a row that Ratoath AC have finished as the top u-20 Irish club and thus qualified for the European club finals.

The DNA Championship format consists of 11-point scoring events and finishes with a Hunt Relay, the Hunt relay start is staggered based on the amount of points scored in the previous 11 events. Ratoath AC were looking to qualify from their group on Saturday.

With teams from Chez Republic, Germany, France, Estonia and Portugal, a top three finish was required to qualify for the A final on Sunday. Ratoath AC got off to a great start in the mixed 4x400m relay taking the maximum 12 points in a close finish from the Czech Skoda Team, with great performances from Sean Ennis, Laura Kelly, Aisling Startford and Jack Kelly.

Ratoath also had some strong performances with top points coming from Katie Doherty and Jesse Osas who both won their 100 and 200m events, Tara O’ Connor and Ethan Dewhirst winning the high jump and 400m Hurdles, Caoimhe Fitzsimons third in the 100m Hurdles and Enya Silkena finishing 4th in the 4kg shot put with a PB of 11.04m.

Ratoath finished top of the table after the 11 events with an impressive score of 104 points and they had a four-second advantage over the Skoda Plzen Chez team going into the hunt relay.

The Ratoath hunters were hauled in on the last 800m leg by a powerful Skoda athlete but still finished second and so qualified them for their first European A final on Sunday. The A final was a big step for Ratoath Ac and they were competing with the powerhouse Clubs of Europe from England, Denmark, Chez Republic, Portugal and Spain.

The young Ratoath athletes put in some great performances but unfortunately, the club had a DQ in one of their track events and were unlucky in two of their field event competitions resulting in a 12-point loss that proved costly at the end of the day.

Notable Ratoath performances on day two from Tara O’Connor and Ethan Dewhirst who again won both their events, high jump and 400m hurdles. Katie Doherty was pipped by 100th of a second in the 100m and had to settle for second place and Jesse Osas also finished second in the 200m.

The Ratoath Hunt relay had a lot of work to do to try and make up the points deficit and they put in a brave run but were unable to improve on their sixth position.