Last Saturday, 18th June, in Tullamore will always be a date Sam O Sullivan will remember for a long time. Tullamore was the setting for the Leinster Juvenile Track and Field Championships. The organisers kindly provided Sam with a 10000m Race Walk event as he pursued the qualifying time for the upcoming European under 18 Track and Field Championships which will be held in Jerusalem from the 4th to the 7thJuly. Sam’s challenge was great with a qualification standard of 48 mins for 10km set by Athletics Ireland for these upcoming European championships at stake.
Sam was ably assisted by Joe Mooney from Adamstown Athletic Club. Joe a seasoned Senior athlete took Sam out at pace going through the halfway mark at 24 mins 15 secs. Sam put in some hard kilometres from 6 to 8 having slipped off pace at the 8km mark. This allowed Sam a mere 9 mins to do the last 2km and was the point in the race where Sam’s training came to the fore. Sam dug deep walking his final 2km in 8 mins 50 secs and a massive PB improvement of 67 seconds to finish in 47 mins 50 secs. The level of exertion evident as Sam collapsed to the ground once safely over the line hardly comprehending the enormity of his achievement. This was a brilliant achievement by Sam and it was great to see all the hard work over the past couple of months paying off.