Tallaght juvenile athlete Evan Flynn was in top form in the recent
Dublin Juvenile Cross Country Championships, claiming both the U12 and
U13 titles. The first of his successes came in St Anne’s Park Raheny
last Sunday week, where he led the large field of runners through the
first 800m of the 1,000m contest and with 200m remaining stormed clear
to record his first championship title, with a comfortable margin of
over 100m to spare on his nearest rival.
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Photo –
courtesy of Alan Cowzer |
Photo –
Courtesy of Dave Meehan |
Conor Murray (652) and Sean Keane (655) with Dual U12 & U13 Champion
Evan Flynn (654)
Following this emphatic victory, and despite being the youngest
competitor toeing the line in the U13 1200m contest in Marlay Park on
Sunday last, he again used his vast stamina reserves and strength to
great effect over a very demanding and testing course to claim his
second title. After leading the field from start he gradually wound up
the pace until running out a clear winner ahead of some very talented
young athletes, including club colleague Conor Murray who also claimed
an individual medal, after he bravely battled all the way to take 5th on
the day whilst Sean Keane crossed the line in 28th position. Both Evan
and Conor will contest the National Championships as members of the
Dublin squad in Ballyhaise, Co Cavan on the 7th December, but before
that Evan will lead the Dublin challenge in the National U12
Championships in Tramore at the end of the month, where Conor will be
competing at U14 degree with his fellow club members John Daly, Keith
Doherty and Sean Mc Cabe, who combined together at Raheny to take bronze
medals in the team category. In addition to representing the club team
in Tramore, both John Daly and Keith Doherty will also be representing
the Capital after winning the 5th and 7th individual medals respectively
in the same contest.
Earlier, Eamonn Conroy took an individual medal with a great late finish
after 800m at U11 degree, in the process adding to the medal he won the
previous week in Raheny where he finished 5th in the U10 800m contest
behind our own Fionn Carroll who was crowned the Dublin champion after
storming to a clear cut victory. Ronan Mc Enaney also contested the U11
800m contest, finishing in the middle of the large field of contestants.
Jade Johnston was the next Tallaght contestant and she erased the
disappointment of not securing a place on the Dublin U14 squad the
previous week when she ran on very strongly to take the U13 championship
bronze medal and a place on the Dublin squad for the Nationals. Also at
U13 degree, Cliona Carroll who was contesting her first championship ran
a very encouraging race to take 15th place.
At U15 degree, John Daly also booked his place on the U15 Dublin squad
after he finished 11th over 2,000m. He was followed home by Ruari
Carroll (21st), Sean Mc Cabe (22nd) and Aaron Mc Donagh. Emma Morrin was
another who had an encouraging run over 1500m at U15 degree, whilst
Roisin O’ Hanlon just missed out on the final qualifying place when she
finished 13th in a very competitive U17 2,000m contest.
In the boys U17 4,000m, Sean Fitzsimons was hoping to add a medal and
qualification to the one he secured when taking the final qualifying
position at U16 degree the previous week. However, despite his brave
efforts in conditions which became increasingly testing after the seven
preceding races, he unfortunately finished short of the medals, as did
Dylan Flynn and Niall Meehan who both battled bravely throughout the
contest.
Peter Fitzsimons added another medal for Tallaght in the final contest
of the day, finishing 10th after a gruelling 6,000m and he too will be
looking forward to contesting the Nationals in Cavan. Unfortunately,
Sean Fitzpatrick suffered the same fate as Roisin O’ Hanlon when he also
missed out on a qualifying place, after crossing the line in 13th
position.
Elsewhere over the last few weeks our senior athletes were engaged in a
series of Championship races. Jeetun Dharamjai followed up on his silver
medal win in the Dublin Novice Championship with a good run in the
Leinster Novice Championships where he led the Dublin team including our
own Davy Byrne to team silver on a very tough course at Avondale House
in Wicklow.
This was followed by the
Dublin Senior Cross Country Championships held at the same venue as the
juvenile Championships in Raheny. In that contest, Thomas Fitzpatrick
showed further progress after his bronze medal win in the Dublin Novice
Championships in Tymon Park a few weeks earlier when crossing the line
in 15th, and combined with Jeetu Dharamjai (18th), Eoin Dunne (25th),
Davy Byrne (29th), Luke Coleman and James Crowley to finish 5th in the
team rankings, whilst Niall Coppinger emerged again as our leading
Marathon runner after he was the 18th Irishman to cross the line in the
Dublin Marathon in a time of 2.44.47, claiming silver in the National
O/45 category and leading Derek Quinn (2.54.41) and Bill Murphy (3.05.6)
to team silver honours in the National Masters 1 Category for Tallaght.
Peig Henry was the first Tallaght A.C. woman to finish and led Helen
Dunne (3.54) and Susan Adams (3.55) to 7th overall in the Master Womens
category. They were followed home by Janice Mahon (4.06) and Marissa
Carton (4.09).
Since then Peig Henry has been crowned as the winner of the BHAA O/35
league for 2008 and on the other side of the Atlantic, Pauline Madden
put in a great effort to finish the New York Marathon in a time of 3hrs
59 mins.
