The Munster UnEven age and Intermediate Cross Country championships took place in Newmarket and Fergus, Co. Clare on November 9th 2014. The XC course was set out over two challenging fields which meant that all athletes had to work extra hard in each of the races. While there was some heavy rain on the journey up to Clare the rain cleared and we had nice breezy day for all to enjoy.
Ronnie Barry competed on the Cork team in the intermediate race and she ran a very strong race to finish in 8th place and she helped the Cork team take the bronze medal.
The juvenile races day started with the U9 competitors which is the youngest age group that are eligible to compete so for all this was their first Munster championship event. Both U9 teams rose to the challenge with the Girls U9 team of Amy McCarthy, Maia McCourt, Aoibhinn McKeogh, Niamh Cotter, Aoife Tuthill and Ailbhe Gibbons taking the Gold medal place and the Boys U9 team of Daire Walsh, Adam Barry, Conor Creswell, Luke Casey and Ronan Aherne taking the bronze medal place. Three of the U9 girls won individual medals with Amy taking 2nd place, Maia in 8th and Niamh in 11th place. Amy also scored on the Cork team helping the county win 1st prize. Daire Walsh scored on the Cork team for the boys U9 team helping them win the silver medal.
The Girls and Boys U11 team were next to race and they were the first group to complete the challenging loop which covered both fields. The Girls team of Lucy T McCarthy, Aishling McKeogh, Ellen Murphy and Hannah Buckley and Boys team of Callum McCourt, Jack Cullen, Adam Casey, Eoghan Cassidy, Joseph Buttimer and Sean Deasy all ran strong races and just finished outside the team medals. Callum McCourt had a very competitive race and he finished in 6th place also scoring on the Cork team that won gold.
The two U13 teams (Girls Jane Buckley, Jane Buttimer, Olivia Tuthill, Caoimhe Deasy, Lauren McCourt, Katie Murphy, Nicola, Boys Tim McCarthy, Keelan Crowley, Fionn Harrington, Niall Desmond, Liam Crowley , Andrew OLeary and Ruairi Harrington) had 2500m to race and both teams finished in 5th place which was just outside the All Ireland qualifying place. Niall Desmond had a very strong race and he competed for the top place throughout the race and he finished in an excellent 3rd place. He also scored on the Cork team who won Gold.
It was great to have two U15 teams competing at a Munster level and both teams did very well with the Girls taking 1st place and the boys following closely behind in 2nd place. The Girls team of Niamh Callanan, Laura Nicholson, Michelle O’Dononvan. Moira Barrett and Grainne Mulcahy ran very well as a team all finishing in the top 30 places. Laura who won an individual medal also scored on the Cork team along with Niamh. Naoise O’Fhaitheartaigh and Conor Calnan finished in 11th and 12th place leading the rest of the team of Christain Buttimer, Michael Laffan, Killian Coghlan , Jude Donegan and Matt Devine. They also scored on the Cork team who took 1st place.
Fiona Everard, Carina Crowley , Aoibh Cassidy and Alice Symington competed in the U17 race over a 4000m course. The girls ran very strongly from start to finish earning themselves a well deserved 2nd team prize with Carina taking individual 8th place and Fiona 9th place.
The standard across all races was very high as you would expect at a Munster championship and all our athletes should be very proud of their performances. Well done to all.
Report by Tom Laffan