Dan is crowned All-Ireland pentathlon champion
Dan Downey is feted by fellow students in St Mary's CBS Photo courtesy of St Mary's CBS Facebook
Portlaoise teenager Dan Downey was crowned All-Ireland Schools Combined Events Champion earlier this month.
Dan competed in the pentathlon - a gruelling event made up of five disciplines: shot putt (5kg), 60m hurdles, 200m, long jump and 800m.
It was an incredible day of performances from Dan who was unyielding all day long.
After a personal best in the shot putt, Dan moved into second place and then stormed ahead with brilliant runs in the hurdles and 200m to take the lead and hold it all the way through.
He threw a personal best of 13.26m in the shot putt. In the 60m hurdles he ran a time of 8.36secs and recorded an impressive 22.88secs in the 800 metres. In the jong jump he put in a leap of 6.28m and rounded off the event with a stamina sapping 2:00.32 for the 800m This all secured him a total of 3,784 points and the honour of being crowned All Ireland champion.
Dan now goes on to represent Ireland at the SIAB Schools International Pentathlon in Glasgow on Saturday 6 December 6th, competing against athletes from England, Scotland and Wales.
Dan’s achievement was recently recognised by this fellow pupil and teachers in St Mary’s CBS.
