Limerick Athletics: Young stars sparkle at the National Juvenile Indoor Championships

Claughaun GAA 5K
Stephen Holloway of Limerick Track was a convincing winner of the inaugural Claughaun GAA Club 5K in a time of 16:58.
He was followed in second by Lucas Buckley in a time of 17:27, while Same Mullins made it a Limerick Track ‘1-3’, taking third in 17:39.
There was a PB for Dooneen’s Sinead McDermot in the Women’s race as she saw off club-mate Emer O’Mahony in a close contest 19:35 to 19:43. Maire Curran took third in 21:11.
A notable performance included West Limerick Juvenile Alex O’Sullivan who was eighth in 19:24. His father Eddie, West Limerick juvenile coach finished on 27:00. Other times included Derek Casey 21:45, Mike Clarke 22:56, Joe Chawke 22:10.
There was a tough uphill close to the finish, but that can only ‘improve’ an athlete.

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National Juvenile Indoor Championships
Despite fuel shortages and roadblocks around the country, nothing was going to prevent Ireland’s brightest young athletes from taking to the track as the 2026 Juvenile indoor season came to an exciting conclusion.
It proved to be another memorable day for Dooneen athletes. Meabh Purtill and Éanna Ní Huigín marked their final juvenile indoor appearance in style by helping the club to win gold in the Girls’ U19 Relay alongside Emer Purtill and Grace Mainoo. Later in the day Meabh added to her medal haul to take silver in the U19 High Jump.
Emer Purtill delivered one of the standout performances of the day, winning gold in the Girls’ U18 Shot Put with a superb throw of 15.19m before adding another gold in the High Jump with a personal best of 1.66m.
To cap off a remarkable day, Meabh and Emer Purtill were not finished yet, travelling to Dublin afterwards to join the Limerick Celtics basketball squad and helping secure the National League Women’s Division 1 title in a stunning victory.
Elsewhere the West Limerick U13 Boys Relay team, made up of Ciarán McLoughlin, Theo Prendeville, Peter Szabo, and Keanu Erwee, ran an unbelievable race in what was a highly competitive event.
They just missed out on the medals this time, finishing strongly against a very high standard of competition.

Parkrun
Some of the best times over the weekend included Gary Egan (An Bru) 18:32, Damien Tracey (Limerick AC) 19:36, Rita Whelan (Dooneen) 26:32- all UL, Declan Kennedy (Dooneen) 21:11- Mungret, Darren Crowe (Country Club) 23:04 at Newcastle West.
Eileen Reeves is in Australia where she rose early for the 8am Margaret River Parkrun which she completed in a time of 29:31.

Abroad
Tracey Fitzgerald of West Limerick AC ran the London Landmarks Half Marathon in aid of Down’s Syndrome Ireland a pb time of 2:23:14.
Dooneen’s Paul Naughton ran the Milan Marathon in a superb time of 3:04:58.

Fixtures
The Limerick Runs Series 10 Mile takes place next weekend in Castleconnell, 9am. Entries through Eventmaster.
The 15th Great Limerick Run takes place on Sunday, May 3. Note the later start times this year for both the Half Marathon and 6 Mile.