Olympian AC celebrate amazing medal haul at Masters All Ireland Track and Field Championships

As the track and field season draws to a close, Olympian Youth & Athletic Club’s more experienced athletes took their time to shine as they contested the Masters All Ireland Track and Field Championships held in Tullamore, Co. Offaly recently.
By Michael Wilson
Published 30th Aug 2022, 14:29 BST
Olympian’s new All Ireland Masters F40 100m champion, Karen O’Donnell, celebrates with her daughter.Olympian’s new All Ireland Masters F40 100m champion, Karen O’Donnell, celebrates with her daughter.
Olympian’s new All Ireland Masters F40 100m champion, Karen O’Donnell, celebrates with her daughter.

With All Ireland gold, silver and bronze medals up for grabs in age groups from 35 years up (Male (M) and Female (F)), Olympian’s five athletes, Lee Barlow and siblings Karen, Michelle, Patrick and Martin O’Donnell illustrated that they were among the best in the land as they amassed an unbelievable medal haul of SIX Gold, THREE Silver medals and ONE Bronze medal on a memorable day for the local club.Eldest sister, and most successful athlete of the day, was undoubtedly Karen O’Donnell who was in fantastic form all day as she claimed gold in the F40 100m running very close to her PB of 13.59secs, clocking just outside with a swift 13.60secs. It was gold yet again in the F40 400m where she ran away from the field, making her double Masters’ All Ireland champion. Karen very nearly made it three from three but was pipped on the line for a well deserved silver medal in the F40 200m.Youngest sister, Michelle, was croned All Ireland champion in the Javelin F40 category with a throw of 25.23m. Michelle also won a silver medal in the F40 Discus competition.Youngest brother, Patrick, competing in his first outdoor All Ireland Masters Championships, took Gold in the M35 400m hurdles to add to his recent Northern Ireland and Ulster title.Patrick also won a well deserved silver medal in the long jump while eldest brother, Martin, who recently took up the Triple Jump showed great natural technical ability to claim the gold medal in the M45 category and the title of All Ireland champion. Martin also ran exceptionally well in 100m where he earning himself a brilliant bronze medal.Finally, after more than 10 years since his last competition, Lee Barlow returned to action to show he has not lost his technical and javelin throwing capabilities by launching a winning throw of 32.83m in the M35 age group to claim the gold and become another Olympian All Ireland Masters Champion.

All Ireland Community Games FinalsMeanwhile, on Saturday, August 13th, some of the club’s athletes made the trip to the SETU Sports Campus in sunny Carlow for the 2022 Aldi Community Games National Track and Field finals representing the Glenswilly/Churchill area.The Under 10 mixed relay team ran really well, narrowly missing out on a spot in the semi-finals. Forming part of this relay team were club members Aisling Ferry and Lucas Casburn.Darragh Curley was representing the area in the U14 Boys’ Shot Putt and performed very well in a large field. Aoife McGeehin competed in the U14 Girls’ Javelin Competition which was an extremely competitive competition with Aoife finishing in a very creditable fourth place with a throw of 28.20m.As the track and Field season has now drawn to a close ,the club continues on its summer break and will return on the first week of September.