Tallaght Athletes Take 6 League Titles

Tallaght fielded more than 34 competitors in the final races of the Dublin Juvenile Cross Country League Series last Sunday in the Phoenix Park where 6 of the young athletes secured league titles, after four tough competitions.

After winning the first three outings Christopher Duffy was again in super form and he was determined to win the title as he adopted bold front running tactics from the start, dictating the pace throughout the first 1,000m and with 200m of the 1200m contest remaining began to put daylight between himself and his nearest rivals with the exception of club mate Seamus Noone who challenged him, in a ding-dong battle all the way to the line, where Christopher prevailed in a very tight finish to take the U11 title, with Seamus taking a great 2nd overall.

Cathal Dervan was another who again showed great form on the day after his battle in the previous 3 races with DSD’s Conor Halpin, however he needed to win the final contest and he did so in empathetic style to share the title with his nearest rival.

At U15 degree Conor Murray, the league leader after the first three outings secured enough points after he finished 5th over this tougher course and longer 3,000m distance to share the title with Daniel Byrne of Lucan A.C., whilst Sean Mc Cabes 3rd placed finish after a tough 3,500m contest gave him enough points to take the U16 title, well clear of his rivals.

Uchenna Uwechue who jointly shared the lead after the first three contests produced another great performance to win his 4,000m contest and the U17 title, and both Roisin O’ Hanlon and Frankie Walsh secured both U19 titles for Tallaght after they ran out the winners of their respective 4.5k and 6.5k contests.

Both Nadine Johnston Hickey and Grace Dervan put in some great performances in the series and both went very close to taking the U11 title after Grace secured a win in the final outing over 1200m with Nadine finishing a very good 3rd. However, their points total of 111 each left them five points behind the overall winner, but was good enough to give them joint 2nd overall.

Other juvenile athletes to receive league awards are Aaron Mc Donagh who recorded a 3rd, 5th, 5th and 3rd in the four contests finished 3rd overall at U17 degree, Philip Murray 5th overall in the same age group and Kevin Lahiff who despite missing out on the last competition secured enough points from the previous 3 races to take the 6th overall award at U10 degree.

Others to run well in the final races of the series included Eve Keegan who finished 8th overall in the U10 series, Faye Dervan (18th overall), Dylan O’ Brien (13th overall) and Ianaengus Geraghty (14th overall) in the same age category, whilst Ryan Kidd, Allana Walsh, Emily Davis and Kerry Woods also competed well on the day and in some of previous contests at U11 degree, as did Ronan Mc Eneaney, Rebecca Casey and Ciara Jordan 9th, 13th and 16th overall in the U12 series and Kayleigh Clarke and Aloisa King who finished 13th and 16th respectively overall at U13 degree.

Karl Graham had his first outing of the season in the U10 contest where he finished 6th and in the same contest debutantes Jakoub Diebbari and Oisin Brennan finished well placed in 13th and 14th respectively whilst Antoinette Neamt had an excellent run to finish 9th in the girls equivalent. Other debutantes to do well on the day were Issak Diebbari and Meg Brennan in the U12 and U14 contests whilst Erin O’ Connor ran well to finish 14th in her first outing of the season over 2,200m.

Evan Flynn who was travelling very well throughout the first circuit of the U14 contest unfortunately had to retire due to a niggling injury, but hopefully he will be fit and ready and looking forward, as will many more of these young athletes to the Dublin even age Championships on Sunday 31st October in Santry Demesne and the uneven ages in Marlay Park on Sunday 14th of November.