Great performances at County Juvenile Cross County

The county unevens cc took place in Galbally in glorious sunshine today and again Clonmel AC was well represented across the age groups. The top 10 athletes across the line in age groups up to u13 all received medals and the top 6 in each race will represent Tipperary as well as their own clubs in the upcoming Munster CC in Turnpike on the 24th and 31st October. Large starting fields were the order of the day with some races having nearly 50 athletes awaiting the starters gun.

First up were the girls u9 and it was brilliant to see the team of Saorlaith Ryan 5th Judy O Donnell 10th Faye Hallinan 12th and Aine Horgan 13th combine to take the silver county team medals. An unbelievable result considering 3 of the 4 had never competed before and indeed Saorlaith and Aine only joined the club this week. What natural ability. Saorlaith and Judy also received individual medals for their top 10 placing.

Next up for Clonmel athletes was the u11 girls and here Ellie O Donnell 12th, Moya Cotter 29th and Emma Fitzgerald 33rd put in great performances. Unfortunately, we could not make up a team. Then onto the boys u11 and again we were short one for a team which would have surely scored. Our 3 athletes were Dara O Loughlin 7th another first timer competing on his birthday, Fionn Aird 8th and Oliver Stockhil 33rd all ran great races. Onto the u13 girls and Eadaoin Duffy 7th, Alice Meegan 10th and Hannah Murray 17th all ran brilliantly but were unfortunate to be one short for a team medal. In the boys u13 race we had a team of 5 and although only one Devin Ryan received an individual medal it shows the importance of having a team with the other lads all scoring well Harry Weymouth 13th, Ryan Kennedy 14th, Alex Lawless 16th and Sebastin Stockhil 25th. The team performance was good enough to take the bronze county team medals. In the u15 girls Meabh Meegan our sole competitor ran a fantastic race to place 4th just outside the individual medal placings. In the boys u17 Cian Flaherty had a brilliant race to place 6th. In the girls u19 race Muireann Duffy 2nd, Laura Cooney 4th and Celine Durand 5th all of whom ran brilliantly and took the gold county team medals. Our final juvenile race of the day was the u19 boys and Conor Flaherty put in a superb race to place 4th. Our u19 girls team also stepped up to compete in the junior ladies race which they also won.

Well done all. Next week we will be putting cc relays teams together for Sunday the 17th in Turnpike. Please talk to your coach if you are interested. The team medals will be given out at the track on Tuesday night. Finally, we would like to thank the athletes, coaches, parents and team manager for all their help on the day and to Mooreabbey Milers for hosting such a well organised event.