Kiltoom starlet performs well

Kiltoom athlete and Athlone Community College student Sionann O"Reilly-Collins was a member of the Irish pentathlon team who recently participated in the National UK Tetrathlon Championships in Crystal Palace, London. Over 150 athletes from the UK and Ireland took part. The competition on the Saturday was sword fencing and swimming. It was a sweltering day and the large indoor complex was like a sauna for the athletes. Sword fencing started at 8.30 in the morning and didn"t finish until 5.30pm. After sitting around in the energy-sapping heat, Sionann had a gruelling 17 bouts of fencing, winning seven of them. After 6pm Sionann went on to complete a 100m swim just outside of her personal best. At the end of day one she was in 11th place. Sionann went into the run and shoot, the final two disciplines of the weekend, in 11th place, but she produced one her best runs and shoots (860 points) in the two disciplines, to climb to 9th place and secure a top-10 finish. Sionann said she was delighted to be in the top 10 in the UK and Ireland. She also thanked Jim Bailey (Pentathlon), John Flood (Tetrathlon) for their continued support and coaching and Pentanetworks for their sponsorship. In the Youth C girls, the run and shoot was not combined. This is a combined event from Youth B upwards. Earlier, Emily Greenan from Letterkenny had led the Irish challenge on day one in first place but unfortunately finished 2nd in the girls under 17 in day 2. Still, this was an outstanding performance from the Donegal athlete. All the Irish Athletes put in strong challenges in each of the four events, competing well against the cream of the UK Pentathletes. The calibre of the English competition was shown with Heather Fell, the Olympian silver medallist, being one of the competitors. Majority of the athletes were using this meet for ranking points ahead of the European Championships in Portugal. 'Sionann is a young athlete and has gained some excellent experience here in London,' said Theresa O"Reilly, Sionann"s mother. 'Sionann is still learning and when she moves up into the Youth B, the new combined run/shoot format could change things for the better as that is how Sionann has been training for the last few months.' This was an excellent performance from Sionann and a great reward for her as she has spent the last few months training across the country. The Modern Pentathlon Association of Ireland is constantly looking for new members in this growing sport and anyone interested should have a look at the website www.MPAIreland.com for more details. Members of the MPAI would be happy to visit schools to talk about the sport and its many disciplines.