Tallaght Juvenile Athletes Stay Top of LeagueA number of Tallaght juvenile athletes stayed at the top of their leagues after the second cross country league races which were run over longer distances in the Phoenix Park last Sunday.
Christopher Duffy again secured maximum points after he won his second race of the series, the U11 9000m and was followed home by Seamus Noone who is closely chasing him in second, whilst Conor Murray, despite his 4th placing in the U15 2,000m secured enough points to stay at the top of his league. At U16 degree, Sean Mc Cabe also recorded a second win over 2,500m to stay top of the table and both Roisin O’ Hanlon and Frankie Walsh did likewise in the U19 competitions.
Uchenna Uwechel again finished second in the U17 3,000m contest to maintain second position, with Philip Murray following him home in 4th to secure his first league points whilst Aaron Mc Donaghs 5th keeps him in the hunt for top honours.
Cathal Dervan went one better from his previous weeks outing after he had an emphatic win in the U12 contest over 1200m, whilst the girls equivalent Rebecca Casey secured points after she finished 18th, with Ciara Jordan following her home. In the U13 1300m contest, Aloisa King added additional points after she finished 18th whilst Ronan Mc Enaney in his first outing of the season finished a good 10th over the same distance.
At U10 degree, Kevin Lahiff finished 7th in the 700m contest to stay in contention for the top 6 honours whilst Eve Keegan did likewise with another good 10th placing, and she was followed home by Faye Drvan in 13th with Orla Doyle a little further back in the large field of over 60 runners.
Nadine Johnston Hickey is another well up in the standings after she added a 3rd placing in the U11 900m to her previous week’s win, whilst Grace Dervan, despite falling at the start made up tremendous ground to secure vital points for her 6th place finish. Alana Walsh, Emily Davis, Kerry Woods and Claudia Kavanagh followed them home a little further down the field of runners.
Elsewhere some of our senior athletes were in Berlin where they contested the Berlin Marathon, with Colm Barcoe the first Tallaght competitor to cross the line in 02:56:13, followed by Jaqui Boyle 03:17:14, Martin Haddock 03:22:03, Deirdre Pitts 04:02:16 and Liz Conroy 04:51:33.
Our athletes will be looking forward to the Phoenix Park next Sunday where the juveniles will be contesting the 3rd race of the Dublin Cross Country League Series and our Senior men and women will contest the Dublin Novice Cross Country Championships.