ACE Athletics Club’s Lorcàn Forde Dunne has been selected to represent Ireland at the European Youth Olympic Festival (EYOF) in Skopje, North Macedonia, later this month.

The 17 year old will compete in the 1500m, having met the qualifying time standard earlier this season. The EYOF is Europe’s largest multi sport event for young athletes and takes place from July 21.

Forde Dunne has been a member of ACE AC for many years and has competed regularly at local, provincial, and national level since he was 8 years of age. 

Last weekend, he added to his list of achievements with a bronze medal in the All Ireland U18 1500m in Tullamore. Due to large entry numbers, the event was split into two heats with medals awarded on time. Forde Dunne won the first heat in 4:03, which was the third fastest overall.

He will now focus on preparations for the EYOF, where he will line up against Europe’s top underage athletes.

Also competing last weekend was u19 clubmate Eimear Cooney, who closed out her juvenile track career with two major performances. On Saturday evening, she won bronze in the U20 Morton Mile at the Morton Games and Less than 24 hours later, she returned to Tullamore and won national gold in the U19 1500m at the All Ireland Championships. Cooney has medalled in every national final she entered this summer.

In other news, U19 Daniella Adebola also completed her final ever juvenile track race with a strong showing in the 200m. She ran a personal best of 25.74 in the heats to qualify for the final, where she placed 5th in Ireland. Adebola has made steady progress all season, recording personal bests across multiple sprint distances.

It was yet another extraordinary few weeks for Ace AC, with national medals, personal bests, and an Olympic selection, marking one of the club’s most successful ever periods.