Flu outbreak the real winner
(by Ray Fitzsimons)

Tallaght AC juvenile athletes travelled to the National Cross Country Uneven Aged Championships in Mullingar at the weekend knowing they were up against it following multiple withdrawals from the squad due to the current flu outbreak.

The course at Belvedere Gardens was hilly and testing and all races were very competitive with in excess of 120 runners in each.

Zara Gaynor was first into action for the club at U11 degree and she can be well pleased with her National debut finishing 75^th out of 140 runners. Darryl Mahon won the clubs first medal of the day when his 59^th place anchored the Dublin teams inter –county win at U13 degree. The rest of the Tallaght team all ran hard to the finish and Eoghan Hennessy,Ciaran Dunne,  Jason Power, Niall Forrester and Frank Jones will have learned from this experience.

Aisling Johnston who has been enjoying a rich vein of form produced Tallaghts best individual performance of the day when finishing in third place to take the bronze medal in the U13 race while her team mate Jade Corcoran can be well pleased with her 34^th place finish. Fiona Byrne and Roisin O Hanlon also tried hard to make an impact in a very tough race.

Aoibheann Tierney stepped up a year to take her chance in the U15 race and her 59^th place out of 122 runners was a solid performance. Robert Fitzsimons also picked up an individual medal for his 10^th place finish and his team of Luke Coleman, Anthony Leghio, Sean Bolger and Brian Gregan finished 6^th in the inter club rankings.

Bronagh O Hanlon also stepped up a year to compete in the U17 race and finished in 46^th place.

The club travels to Killybegs in two weeks for the even aged National Finals and will be hoping for better things to come.