Dublin Juvenile T&F Championships

RoyMcC

Irishtown from 10am on both Sat 20th/Sun 21st - timetable here. Weather is set fair. If you're at a loose end this weekend come along and watch some wholehearted athletics.

RoyMcC

Well done the Dublin Athletics Board on a well-conducted Juvenile Championships. As a relative newcomer to the Irish athletics scene I do have some observations on what was a busy weekend. And presumably what happens at this level of athletics will ultimately reflect at senior level.
Participation
On the track, from U12-U14, fantastic. The sprints and middle-distance events often necessitated heats and - in some cases, semi-finals. Above those age groups it was patchy and age groups often had to be consolidated. Nevertheless there was some good racing in places and a surprisingly well-contested steeplechase (by the lads, with one poor girl trotting around rather forlornly on her own).

The walks were a disappointment to me as Ireland has a bit of a reputation here, but clearly not in Dublin.

Long jump - again heavily supported by the young ones. High jump, desperately poor turnout, virtually no interest. Throws, patchy at best.

Standards
As you'd expect, the track produced some very good performances. Clearly this is where Ireland is strongest at present. Jumps, just not good. Throws, it would make a cat laugh. Of course there were examples of excellence in the throws but these were far and few between.

Worries
The astonishing drop-off in participation levels from about age 13-14. This is not confined to Ireland of course. But what a shame that the enthusiasm and fun that the young athletes have can so easily be lost somewhere along the line.

Why the lack of good throwers? There were a handful of good, older throwers this weekend. But with the excellent throws coaches that operate in the Dublin area I'd be expecting very much more by way of hot competition at these championships. I don't know the answer.

The top four in each age group/event qualify for the AAI Nationals. In many cases, especially in the field events, you needed only turn up to qualify. One shudders if certain athletes choose to take up their place.

Officiating
A very good nucleus of key officials. My one worry was in timekeeping which was totally reliant on one sharp and expert old fella, with no assistants. If he becomes unavailable then I wonder who is going to step in and give times for 6-8 athletes in a 60m sprint. (Note - it can't be done by one person and only their expertise and experience can produce reasonable approximate times). Untrained timekeepers usually give horribly inaccurate times anyway.

Age groups
My personal opinion is that it is crazy having competitions for every year from U9 to U19. It makes for easy wins and easy medals for the better athletes. It also makes for too many seperate events. I'm not going to argue the present set-up or how it came about. However the system in the UK/Channel Islands is that the age groups are in two-year brackets i.e. U11, U13, U15 etc. This makes for stronger competition and for the competitive athletes in the lower band of the age group to have older athletes to try to put it up to. In other words, greater competition. (Of course, with the same number of participants you would need to manage your events in a different manner).

On a lighter note
A teary moment today as three Crusaders girls commandeered the podium for the U12 shot - Isabel, Niamh and Olibhia, with everybody then singing Happy Birthday to Niamh. You gotta treasure these little moments..