There were some fine performances from our
juvenile athletes at the Dublin even age Cross Country Championships in
Cabinteeley Park on Sunday last, where 10 of our competitors secured
medals for the club and booked their place on the County team for the
Nationals.
Darren Hogan, contesting his first Championship was first to feature for
the club in the U10 600m contest, and whilst slowly away, he made steady
progress through the large field of athletes to finish strongly in 8th,
securing an individual medal and his place on the Dublin team for the
National Finals in Dungarvan at the end of November.
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Darren (1373) – U10 boy’s 600m
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In the U12 girls, 1,000m contest Jade Johnston,
conceding a year to most of the other runners had a good run, finishing
15th, and whilst not making the Dublin team at this level, she should
not have any difficulty finishing amongst the medalists when she
contests the Dublin U11 Championships in a few weeks time, at Santry
Demesne.
In the boy’s equivalent, John Daly led our boy’s home when he finished
amongst the medalists in 10th, with Conor Murray taking the last medal
and qualifying position in 12th. Sean Mc Cabe was next to finish,
followed by Dean Loughlin, Killian Morris and Adam Prior, whilst Zara
Gaynor led home the Tallaght girls Annmarie Mc Clean, Emma Prior and
Robyn Reece in the U14 1200m contest.
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Conor (1375), Sean (1381) , John
(1377), Killiam (1376), Adam (1379) and Dean – U12 boy’s 1,000m.
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At U16 degree, Aisling Johnston, Rebecca Game
and Roisin O’ Hanlon had 2,000m and a tough testing course, containing
some stiff hills to contend with, but all three showed great guts and
determination, with Aisling, although a little disappointed, finishing
in the bronze medal position, with Roisin, stepping up a year taking the
penultimate medal and qualifying position on the Dublin team, and
Rebecca finishing 14th. Their positions combined, would most certainly
have been good enough to secure team silver, but due to the absence of a
key 4th runner on the day, they unfortunately lost out on this award.
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Aisling (1387), Roisin & Rebecca
(1388) – contesting the U16 girls 2,000m contest
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In the Boy’s U16 3,000m contest, run over the
same stamina sapping course as the girls, Brian Connolly placed himself
well to the fore throughout the contest to take 5th medal position. He
was followed home by Eoghan Hennessey and Colm Oman, and despite both
staying in contention for most of the journey, they unfortunately
finished a few places outside the medal positions.
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Eoghan (1395) and Colm (1392) –
U16 3,000m.
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Aoibheann Tierney, stepping up a year to
contest the U18 3k contest had a very good race, running strongly
throughout, she kept close tabs on the leading group until the final
third, but ran on strongly at the finish to take a good 9th place medal,
and qualification for the Nationals.
In the U18 boy’s 5,000m contest our four competitors, Robert Fitzsimons,
Peter Fitzsimons, Anthony Lieghio and Luke Coleman were to the fore from
the beginning, with Robert mixing it at the front for the first 3k,
until he unfortunately had to retire with a pulled hamstring. With the
chance of team medals gone, as 4 finishers are required for scoring in
this category, the other three had to make sure of their place on the
County team, and all came through with flying colours, with Anthony
leading the way in 4th, followed by Peter in 6th, an excellent placing,
considering he was conceding a year and Luke taking the final spot in
12th.
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Aoibheann – Centre of group –
U18 3,000m.
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Anthony with Peter a few places
behind – U18 boy’s 5,000m
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Elsewhere, our senior ladies had another good
outing in the Rathfarnham road league series the previous Tuesday, with
Deborah Burgess showing further improvement when taking 3rd place
overall
Photos
Courtsey of Alan Cowzer