Athlone was the venue for the first major indoor event of the year when the Irish U23 & Junior (U20) championships were held on Sunday 31 January.
Andrew Mellon continued his impressive early season form over the short sprint by running 7.01sec to win his heat of the U23 60m and making him the fastest qualifier.
Unfortunately, in his preferred 400m, he pulled up in his heat after 50m with what appeared to be a slight hamstring niggle and it looked doubtful that he would return for the 60m final later in the day.
Also running in the 400m was seventeen year old Olivia Cumming, competing in her first Junior women’s championships but sadly either the occasion or her nerves got the better of her. In the heats she got off to a slow start from which she never recovered and came home in 6th place with a disappointing time of 63.50sec.
Andrew Mellon, on the other hand, was able to shake off his earlier hamstring niggle to take his place in the 60m final. With the pre-race favourite, Marcus Lawler, having been disqualified for a false start in the heats, the final was there for the taking and Andrew took full advantage with powerful performance from start to finish. He crossed the line in a new PB and Senior club record of 6.92sec to take the title.
