More medals for Tallaght in National Championships
By Cecil Johnston

At the National Juvenile even age Cross Country Championships in Athlone last Sunday, our juvenile athletes again  produced some good performances to take individual, county and regional medals.

Dylan Murphy, contesting his first National Championships, was the first athlete to compete for the club on the day when he contested the U12 1,000m, but did not get out to the fore as expected in the early stages of the race, eventually finishing 88th of the 136 finishers. However, the 10 year old will certainly improve for the experience.

Jade Corcoran produced the first medal of the day for Tallaght with a gutsy performance in the U14 girls 1200m. From the start she placed herself amongst the leading group of 15 in the field of  more than 140 runners and maintained her position until the final 250 metres when she sprinted to finish a very strong 5th overall. In addition to the individual medal, she was awarded with both an Inter County Gold and Regional Silver as the second finisher of Dublin team.

In the same race Roisin O’ Hanlon’s performance was also a contributing factor to Dublin’s success when she passed more than 15 runners in the last 400m to cross the line in 32nd and take her first National medals as one of the six finishers to count on the Dublin Inter County Gold and Regional Silver medal winning team.

Aisling Johnston, conceding a years age advantage in the U16 2k event which was contested by more than 130 runners claimed her 5th National medal in the last two weeks with her 18th place finish, securing both Inter County and Regional Gold medals as the sixth runner home on the triumphant Dublin team. She was followed home by Aoibheann Tierney who crossed the line in 43rd and the 8th finisher on the Dublin team, and both combined with Carla Fullam and Rebecca Game, who despite being unwell on the day ran a good race to help the club team finish a creditable 7th in the inter club category.

The clubs sole competitor in the boys U16 event was Peter Fitzsimons and despite finishing a creditable 34th of the 120 runners, the 3k was possibly was possibly too short to test his stamina reserves.

Anthony Lieghio put in one of his best performances to date when he contested the U18 5,000m. Conceding a year to many of the other competitors and against some top runners he fought gallantly throughout the race, and on more than one occasion was in contention for an individual medal. His 14th placing overall helped Dublin win the Inter County and Regional Gold medals.

Our senior men contested the Intermediate National Championships over a distance of 6k on the same course, with Ronan Kearns the first Tallaght athlete to cross the finishing line, followed by Nilton Demorez, Niall Coppinger, Dessie Shorten and Bill Murphy.

Overall it was a good outing with the juveniles returning with 9 medals, winning a total of 20 medals in the last few weeks in the 2005 National Juvenile Cross Country Championships of Ireland.

Photos by Alan Cowzer and John Denny