Cross Country Report- Tom Laffan
The Even Age, Novice Cross and U23 Cross Country championships took place in Carrigadrohid, West Cork on October 5th 2014. The championships which were hosted by West Muskery AC was very well organised providing a fair but challenging cross country course for all athletes. This was the same course we had for this years West Cork Championships so our club athletes knew exactly what to expect of the course. We were lucky enough with the weather conditions with just 2 showers to contend with although the blustery conditions added that extra challenge. The course consisted of an inner 500m loop and an outer 1500m loop. The inner loop was over a relatively flat section while the outer 1500m loop had a number of challenging sections to deal with. We had a large number of juvenile athletes and a number of seniors competing today and all represented their club very well today.
Mark O’Sullivan competed in the U23 race and ran a very strong race from the start to finish to win the U23 County title. Ronnie Barry also ran a storming race to take the County Women’s Novice title which was an excellent result. Thomas McCarthy also competed in the novice men’s race finishing in 18th place and helping the West Cork team win 2nd team prize.
The day started with the U10 athletes who had 2 laps of the 500m course to complete. The Girls U10 team of Erica Mahony, Maeve Kelly, Niamh Quinn, Lucy J McCarthy, Aoibhinn Cotter, Kate O Connor, Aisling O Connor, Maia McCourt, Aoife Tuthill, Niamh Cotter all ran very well to win 3rd county team prize. The Boys U10 team of Hugh O Mahony, Sean Deasy, Joseph Buttimer, Cian Walsh, David O Donoghue, Eoghan Cassidy, Ronan Crowley and Padraig McCarthy were next up and they impressed by winning 1st team prize. Eoghan Cassidy and Joseph Buttimer won individual medals finishing in 2nd and 5th places.
The Girls and Boys U12 age groups were the next in action and they were the first groups to tackle the outer loop course and both teams worked hard and were well rewarded by winning 2nd team place in both races which was an impressive result. The Girls U12 team consisted of Nicola Tuthill, Clare Flynn, Amy O Donoghue, , Lily Munday, Nicola McKeon, Caoimhe Ni O’Fhaitheartargh, Emily Good, Emer Nagle, Fiona Horgan, Ellen Murphy. Nicola also won an individual medal by finishing in 6th place. The silver winning Boys U12 team consisted of Tim McCarthy, Jacob O Driscoll, Ruairi Harrington, Callum McCourt, Jack Cullen, and Adam Casey.
The Girls U14 were well represented by Michelle O’Dononvan, Andrea O’Brien, Jane Buttimer, Oliva Tuthill, Caoimhe Deasy, Lauren McCourt and Katie Murphy. They had 3000m to complete which is a very testing distance for this age group. Oliva Tuthill finished in 7th place just outside the individual medal position but led the team home to take 2nd county team prize which was a great result for this group of youg girls many of whom were competing out of their own age group. Andrew O’Leary was our sole competitor in the Boys U14 race and he ran a very strong race to finish in 29th place.
The Girls U16 of Laura Nicholson, Moira Barrett, Niamh Munday and Carina Crowley were our last full team of the day to compete and they had a challenging 4000m to complete. This team worked really hard from the start to the finish line and they well rewarded by winning the 1st team prize. Laura and Carina won individual medals finishing in 3rd and 5th place respectively. Naoise O’Fhaitheartaigh competed out of age in the U16 Boys race and he finished in a very strong 7th place just outside the individual medal places.
Fiona Everard, Bethany Haigue and Sinead Caulfield competed in the Girls U18 and all ran very well with Fiona 4th, and Bethany 5th and Sinead 7th. Gerard Crowley and Dylan O’Connor competed in the Boys U18 race having a 6000m course to complete and both lads had strong individual races with Gerard finishing in 8th place and Dylan in 14th place.
All our competitors should be very happy with their performances today. The coaches of the up and coming younger age groups should also be very happy with their team’s performances as it’s a clear recognition of the encouragement and effort you put in at each of your coaching sessions.
Thanks to all who helped and supported the athletes today.