The National Juvenile even age Cross Country
Championships took place in Dungarvan, Co. Waterford on Sunday 26th
November last, where seven of our athletes represented Dublin in a
number of age categories. With underfoot conditions very sticky,
especially after the first few races and with large fields of up to 140
athletes in most races, competition for places were as always very
tough.
John Daly and Conor Murray were first to toe the line, when they
contested the U12 1,000m contest, This was their first year to run cross
country and whilst they did very well to qualify for the Capital, it was
certainly a baptism of fire for both. However, they did very well at
this level, with John finishing in the top 50 and Conor, who was
conceding a year finishing in the top 100 finishers. Conor will no doubt
do a lot better when he contests the U11 Championships in Athlone on the
9th of December.
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Roisin
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Aisling
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Roisin O’ Hanlon and Aisling Johnston contested
the U16 2,000m event and whilst Aisling was expected to finish amongst
the individual medalists, this did not happen on the day, however, 17th
place finish was enough to help the Capitol win team Gold medals in both
the Inter County and Regional categories, whilst Roisin had a good run,
finishing in the top 50.
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Anthony (centre)
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Luke
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In the U18 contests, Aoibheann Tierney,
stepping up a year, had 3,000m to race, and she put in a very gutsy
performance to finish in the top 30, whilst in the boy’s 5,000m contest
Anthony Lieghio finished 16th and helped the Dublin team win bronze team
medals in both the Inter County and Regional categories. Luke Coleman
was next to finish in 42nd, but Peter Fitzsimons, after being well in
contention over the first 2,000m, unfortunately had to retire with a
recurring hip problem.