SHE raced to national sprint glory this year, and now Adaora Nnaemeka is first past the finishing line in the race to become the 2025 West Cork Sports Star Paudie Palmer Youth Award winner.

The talented Bandon Athletic Club star enjoyed a tremendous year that included double gold in the junior girls’ 100m and 200m in the Munster Schools’ Track and Field Championships.

The St Brogan’s Bandon student took her blistering speed to the All-Ireland schools’ finals when she brought home 100m gold and 200m silver.

But there was more to come from lightning-quick Adaora who then powered to double gold at both the Munster and national juvenile championships in the summer.

Competing at U15 level, the Bandon teen moved up through the gears to clinch a brilliant double at national level, again in the 100m and 200m – she set a new championship record of 25.16 in the 200m, another sign of her potential.

So, in her 11 races at Munster and All-Ireland level, between school and club, Adaora won ten of those, and in the other picked up a national silver medal.

The club that nurtured trailblazer Phil Healy, who rose to become the queen of Irish women’s sprinting, now has another special talent who is quickly making a name for herself as one to watch.

‘All my coaches have been brilliant to me and helped me improve my running technique,’ Adaora explained when she picked up her youth earlier this year..

‘Liz (Coomey) has been so helpful. She’s helped me to really define my technique and define how I run. I am always thinking about how to improve my times, and I think Liz’s coaching has helped me a lot.

‘I feel like I wasn’t really dependent on technique before. Now I’m really dependent on technique and not just my (raw) speed alone. It’s really nice that Liz has helped me refine it so that I can run faster.’

So, it’s onwards and upwards for Bandon AC’s latest rising star who will accept her 2025 West Cork Sports Star Paudie Palmer Youth Award at the awards night in the Celtic Ross Hotel in Rosscarbery on Saturday, January 17th.