Report and Pic’s from Tom Laffan
\nThe Juvenile UnEven age National Championships took place on Sunday December 9th in Adamstown, Co. Wexford. The event was being hosted by Adamstown Athletic club and the Wexford County Board and they had obviously worked very hard in conjunction with the local community to provide everyone with excellent facilities and a very warm welcome. The course was very well laid out and the underfoot conditions were perfect which provided for very fast competitive running.<\/p>\n
We had 18 club athletes representing their Club, County and Province at this National Championships and they should all be very happy with their achievements. The Girls U13 team of Ciara McKeon, Laura Nicholson, Moira Barrett, Grainne Mulcahy, Aisling Cassidy and Niamh Calnan were our first team in action and they were competing in race of 132 athletes. All the girls ran very well and with a great team effort they won 2nd club team place which is an excellent result for them. Moira led the team home earning herself an individual medal by finishing in 12th place. Laura finished in 23rd place, Grainne 40th, Niamh 43rd, Ciara 93rd and Aisling 109th. The Cork team also took sliver place and 4 of our team (Moira, Laura, Grainne and Niamh) scored for the Cork. Munster also took silver with Moira scoring on that team also.<\/p>\n
Conor Calnan was competing in the Boys U13 race having qualified as part of the Cork team. He ran in a competitive race to finish in a strong 87th place. The Girls U15 team were next up and we were very well represented by Fiona Everard, Eva Stack, Mari Dineen, Aoibh Cassidy, Carina Crowley and Bethany Hague. The team finished in 5th place and they were led home by Fiona Everard who finished in 10th place earning herself an individual medal. The rest of the team all ran very competitive races with Carina finishing in 42nd, Bethany 45th, Aoibh 62nd, Mari Dineen 72nd and Eva Stack 100th . The Cork team finished in 3rd place with Fiona, Carina and Bethany all scoring on the team. Fiona also scored on the Munster team who won gold.<\/p>\n
It was great to see our Girls 17 team of Aisling Everard, Bella Sherlock, Mary Teresa Murphy and Sarah Stack competing in a very strong field of 81 runners. It\u2019s been sometime since we have had a U17 team qualify for an all Ireland Cross Country event and the whole team showed great determination and resolve to finish in 9th place. Aisling Everard finishing in 19th place and helped the Cork team win bronze and she also scored on the Munster team to help them to win silver.<\/p>\n
Thomas McCarthy was competing out of age on the Cork team in the Boys U19 race and he finished strongly in 40th place. This experience will no doubt stand to him when he competes next year. The official results were late being published by Athletics Ireland but it was worth the wait as the club had some excellent results.<\/p>\n
Well done to all who competed and also to those who helped and supported the athletes over the weekend.
\nPhotos from Adamstown<\/a>
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