Awards for young Newport athletes

Recognition from local athletics club

A group of young athletes who excelled in their respective categories during the past season have been presented with awards by their club to recognise their achievements.

Seven members of Newport Athletics Club have been presented with ‘Coaches’ awards after being chosen by their respective coaches for the singular honour.

In addition, the annual ‘Chairperson's Award’ for 2022 has been jointly awarded to two members, while two also shared the award for the best ‘Newcomers’, and four were honoured in the category for the ‘Most Improved’.

Receiving the first ‘Coaches’ award, Lily Walsh was described as a fantastic Under 11 athlete who had a fantastic cross country season, while Will Brassil was commended as a determined Under 11 athlete who had an excellent season in both indoor and track and field events.

The next honoured as a naturally talented young athlete was Ronan Gleeson, a triple medal winner at county and superb in both track and field and cross country, while Niamh Buckeridge won at both county and Munster level in Under 13, and with five county titles in 800m, indoors, outdoors and community games, 200m and 1500m, plus Munster medals, and Colm Ryan had an impressive list of accomplishments.

DETERMINATION

Determination paid off for Caoimhe Bourke, who won individual and team medals, and added cream to her county and Munster collection with an All Ireland medal, while Ava Palmer, added five individual County titles to her collection during the year, excelling in 60, 100m and 200m as well as both indoor and outdoor shot and impressive performances in relay events.

Chairperson, Ann Fagan selected “two talented, helpful and mature athletes”, Meave Gaffrey and Dara Kennedy, for her honours of 2022.

She described Meave as “a great ambassador for athletes, and a super role model for all our athletes”.

“She is the first person to volunteer to do any role when asked, be it for the club, county or Munster and is also a great people person loved by all,” she said.

“A fantastic young gentleman who is a great advocate for all our athletes” was her definition of Dara.

Known to everyone at club, county and Munster for his gentle manner and supportive word for everyone, he is reliable, dependable and dedicated to athletics, she said.

Rounding off the honours listing, Rory Coleman and Matthew Mellerick received the “Best Newcomers” awards, while the honours for the “Most Improved” were presented to Cate O'Brien, Cathal Grimes, Ben Healy and Lucy Palmer, each of whom had made massive progress in their respective categories during the year.

Individually, they competed in a range of events at county, regional and national level, winning medals against strong competition in their categories and can be relied upon to continue to progress to even higher achievements in the future.