Tallaght Athletes Flying in the Park
(by Ray Fitzsimons)

The first race of the Dublin Athletic Board Juvenile Cross Country League was held on Sunday at the Magazine Course in the Phoenix Park. Points are awarded to the top ten finishers in each race with prizes to be awarded to the top six athletes in each age group over the three race series.

Tallaght AC had many super individual performances and are prominently placed going into the next race on Saturday October 11th in Donabate.

Lauren Power was first home in the U10 600M with Shannon Mahon in 4th, Ciara Henry in 5th and Grace Kristiansen in 6th while Alan Hudson was 4th in the Boys U10 600M while Aisling Barrett, Shauna Mahon and Alexandra Roche all made their race debut and ran really well as did Simon Roche.
Anne Marie Mc Clean secured some points with her 8th place in the U11 600M where 
Zara Gaynor finished 12th, Emma Prior 13th, Kirsty Watson 14th and Robin Reece 15th. Sean Fitzsimons was the clubs only runner in the Boys U11 Race and he finished 13th.
Ciaran Murray was the first Tallaght U12 athlete home in 11th with Rhys Coleman close behind in 12th.
Jade Corcoran led the field in the U12 700M with Ciara O Leary in 3rd and Roisin O Hanlon also scoring in 6th with Sarah Boyd and Catherine Power also running well while in the Boys U12 700M Ciaran Dunne in 5th, Darryl Mahon in 7th , Eoghan Hennessy 8th , Niall Forrester 11th, Jason Power 12th, John Bodie 15th and Thomas Murray 19th all made their presence felt.

It was Tallaght 1 and 2 in the Girls U13 700M with Aisling Johnston in 1st place and Rebecca Game in 2nd while Fiona Byrne also collected points for her 10th place finish. Tallaghts only runner in the Boys U14 1000M was Peter Fitzsimons and he stays in contention following his 7th place finish as does Aoibheann Tierney who finished 5th in the Girls U14 1000M with Stacy O Connor in 16th , Carla Fullam in 21st and Clara Mulligan making her debut in 27th.
The Boys U15 1000M was dominated by Tallaght athletes with Robert Fitzsimons in 2nd, Luke Coleman 4th, Sean Bolger 6th , Brian Gregan in 8th, and Michael Solan in 18th all scoring well. Sarah Bodie finished strongly to take 2nd in the Girls U15 1000M with Kate Whelan in 4th place and Laura Finlay in 14th .

David Somerville, Shane Doody and Mark Power finished 6th, 7th and 8th respectively in the U16 1000M while Bronagh O Hanlon led the Girls U16 1000M from start to finish to stay top of the board while Katie O Hare worked hard to secure her 17th place.

Chris Healy didn’t let his team down in the U17 2000M finishing in 3rd place while Emer O Neill and Aoife Mc Carthy also scored hard earned points with their 4th and 7th placings.

Tallaght AC also competed in the Dublin Athletic Board Senior League at the same venue and pride of place goes to Laura Mc Donnell who won the Ladies 2 Mile race. Her team of Jenny O Connor, Stephanie Game, Teresa O Brien, Niamh Oman and Fiona Mc Carthy combined well to secure second in the points table.
In the Mens race over 4 miles Dessie Shorten was first home in 6th place overall and his team of Tomas Fitzpatrick, Keith Sherlock, James Crowley, Sean Mc Donnell, Tadgh Murphy and Ray Fitzsimons also finished 2nd on points.  Click here to see full results.