All Go for 2011 Woodie's DIY National Juvenile Indoor Championships

This weekend March 19th/20th sees the 2011 Woodie's DIY Irish Juvenile Indoor Championships take place at the impressive Meadowbank Indoor Arena in Magherafelt, Derry. This will only be the second time the Championships have come to the Meadowbank, the first being in 2009 where over 1000 athletes competed over the two days of top-class juvenile competition.

This year, a packed programme of events is expected in Europe's biggest arena over the St Patrick's weekend with the opportunity to see the best of Ireland's young athletics talent in action in a wide range of running, jumping and throwing events on the 300m indoor track. For both girls and boys there will be eight different age categories over the weekend in which the athletes will compete for national medals and titles: U12, U13, U14, U15, U16, U17, U18 & U19, and over 1000 athletes are expected again to compete this year for the 2011 Championships.

All the athletes competing over the weekend will have qualified through their five regional finals over the past few weeks, and we can look forward to catching the likes of regional champions Amy O'Donoghue (Emerald AC, 1500m), Sarah Buggy (St Abbans AC, Triple Jump), Marcus Lawlor (St Lawerence O'Toole AC, 200m) and John Kelly (Finn Valley, Shot Putt) among many others in action over the two full days of competition in Derry.

The action gets underway at 10:00am on Saturday 19th and 10:30am on Sunday 20th and the check-in commences at 9am both days. Over the two days of competition, there will also be exclusive Athletics Ireland event merchandise for sale in the arena for all ages and sizes. The event promises to bring many welcome economic benefits to the region next weekend, as many hundreds of athletes, spectators, parents and friends will be making the trip to Magherafelt and choosing to stay over in any one of the excellent hotels and B&B's in the area.

The Woodie's DIY Irish Juvenile Indoor Championships are being organised by Athletics Ireland, and supported by Magherafelt District Council, Ulster Athletics Council and Rubb Building Systems.