Athletics - Second Weekend of Juvenile Indoor Championships

This weekend April 2nd /3rd sees the second and final weekend of the 2011 Woodie's DIY Irish Juvenile Indoor Championships take place at the established Nenagh Indoor Arena.

This weekend another packed programme of top-class juvenile competition is expected in Tipperary with another opportunity to see the best of Ireland's young athletics talent in action in a wide range of running, jumping and throwing events.

Based on results from the regional championships, standards are expected to be particularly again this weekend.

On Saturday, the following track and field events will be hotly contested: 200m, 800m, 1000m, 1500m, Long Jump, High Jump & Shot Putt. Sunday will be dedicated to Relays, specifically the 4x200m event, which is traditionally a real impactful conclusion to this key weekend of juvenile competition.

For both girls and boys there will be eight different age categories over the weekend in which athletes will compete for national medals and titles: U12, U13, U14, U15, U16, U17, U18 & U19, and up to 800 athletes are expected again to compete this year for the 2011 Championships.

Among the many top juvenile athletes to look out for this weekend in Nenagh are Kate Veale (West Waterford AC - 1500m Walk) Robert Yorke (Mullingar Harriers AC - 800m), Megan Kiely (Ferrybank AC - High Jump), Simon Doyle (St L O'Toole AC - Long Jump), Amy O'Donoghue (Emerald AC - 800m) and Dean Power (Tullamore Harriers AC - 200m).

There will also be a number highly competitive 'head to heads' between athletes; for example in the girl's U18 Long Jump, where defending champion Emily Burns (Ballina AC) will be taking on the challenge of sprint sensation Ciara Giles Doran (Ferrybank AC). Sarah Buggy (St Abbans AC),Schools' Triple Jump Champion, will also be looking to add the Long Jump title to the 200m. which she is also down to run.

The action gets underway at 10:30am on both days and the check-in commences at 9am.

Many of our top athletes competing over the two days will be looking to impress the selectors with good performances, as this year the European Youth Olympics are taking place in Turkey and the World Youth Championships in France this summer. Below that level, there is also the Schools' International opportunity and the Celtic Games in August at the Antrim Forum.

Over the two days of competition, there will also be exclusive Athletics Ireland event merchandise for sale in the Nenagh arena for all ages and sizes.

The event promises to bring many welcome economic benefits to the region this weekend, as many hundreds of athletes, spectators, parents and friends will be making the trip to Nenagh and choosing to stay over in any one of the excellent hotels and B&B's in the area.