The Even age Cross Country Championship took place today in Newport in glorious sunshine more reminiscent of a summer’s day than autumn one. Great credit to Newport for a very well organised event. The course was demanding but firm underfoot which suited our athletes. With nearly 300 juveniles entered big fields were the order of the day. The top 6 finishers in each race would also represent their County at the upcoming Munster Championship in Limerick.
The first race of the day was the girls u10 and here Cara Ryan got the day off to a great start claiming Clonmel AC’s first individual medal with her 4th place finish. The team made up of Cara, Caroline Smith, Sarah Whelan, Sarah O Reilly and Clair Moore also combined to take the Team silver medals. In the u10 boys race our sole competitor Toby Hayes dug deep in the run in to the finish to claim 10th place and Clonmel’s second individual medal. Next up were the girls u12 and here Eavann Duffy ran clever to pick off most of her competitors over the 2000m to claim the Bronze medal for 3rd place. Her team made up of sister Eadaoin, Aoife Stafford, Hannah Murray and Alice Meegan were just outside the team medals.
In the boys u12 Darragh Boland running out of age ran a fantastic race to place 4th and lead the team of Harry Weymouth, Gavin Ryan and Fintan Kearney to the Silver team medals. In the u14 girl race Eimear Heafey and Meabh Meegan ran well to placed 8th and 14th respectively. In the boys u14 race Conor O Gorman ran a fantastic race finishing a close second to the National Champion while teammates Cian Flaherty brother Cathal and Sean Mullins also running out of age combined to win the Gold team medals for the 4th consecutive year.
The u16 girls, u16 boys and u18 girls races were combined this year over the 3000m. Here we had our only County Champion of the day with the brilliant run of Laura Cooney winning convincingly over the distance. Teammate Ruby Carroll also put in a stellar performance to take the bronze medal for 3rd place. Such strength in depth in the girls u16 race saw all seven runners (Jane O Donnell, Muireann Duffy, Ellen Houze, Celine Durand and Grainne O Connor) finish in the top 11 places and take the Gold and Silver team places.
In the u16 boys race Conor Flaherty ran very well to finished 5th behind a strong Nenagh team. In the u18 girls our Stalwart of Cross-Country running Siobhan Whelan again put in a stellar performance to finish 2nd to the National Champion and lead the team to Gold medals. Her teammates who all finished in the top 10 were Emma Murray, Gillian Hughes, Rosie Flaherty and Brid Moynihan.
In total Clonmel AC took 29 medals. We would like to thank the parents and coaches for getting them here and especially the athletes you did the Clonmel colours proud today. Please note entry for the Uneven age group in Moyglass on Sunday 13th must be with the club by Tuesday 8th October.