On Sunday November 8th the Munster Uneven Age Cross country championships were held in the very scenic setting of Beaufort, Co. Kerry. The McGillycuddy reeks provided a lovely setting for this venue but unfortunately for the first half of the day the athletes and supporters didn\u2019t get much sight of the mountains as the rain poured down and the wind whirled across course. On the journey down from Cork there was some hope that the rain was lifting but that wasn\u2019t the case and it wasn\u2019t until early afternoon did the rain stop. This made conditions very difficult for the younger athletes but they all showed great character and determination and they should all be very proud of their achievements on the day. The course was laid out of over 3 open fields on a relatively flat course.
\nThe under 9\u2019s were the first to compete and for most this will have been their first Munster championship. The Girls U9 team of Sarah Burrows, Orlaith Deasy, Natalia Dawidowicz, Aoife Callan, Orla Ryan and Layla O\u2019Neill all put in a great team effort to finish 3rd club in Munster. Sarah led the team home and she also scored on the Cork team helping them to win Gold. The boys U9 team of Daniel Coughlan, Cormac O\u2019Flynn, Eoin O\u2019Callaghan, Sean Hales, Jack Twomey, Glen DeBurca and Dylan Looney ran a very good team race to finish in 5th place, Daniel and Cormac scored on the Cork team helping the county win the silver medal.
\nThe U11 teams were next up and they had to complete the 1500m course spread over the outer fields on the course. The Girls U11 team of Amy McCarthy, Ciara O\u2019Sullivan, Niamh Quinn, Molly O\u2019Callaghan, Ciara White , Aoibheann Cotter were led home by Amy who ran a great race to win the U11 Munster title. The Munster champion also helped the Cork team win the county title. The club team finished in a very credible 5th place out of 14 teams. The boys U11 team of Dara McCarthy, Joseph Buttimer, Sean Deasy, Dara Walsh , Ciaran Brady, Dara Ryan also finished in a very tight scoring 5th place where only 11 points divided the top 5 teams.
\nAs the girls G13 team of Jane Buckley, Nicola Tuthill, Clare Flynn, Ellen Murphy, Amy O\u2019Donoghue, Lucy T McCarthy and Emille Good competed the ground conditions were getting much softer which obviously made the racing more challenging. The whole team ran a great race to take 3rd club place overall. Jane and Nicola finished in 3rd and 11th place overall winning themselves individual Munster medals. Jane also helped the Cork team win the top county prize. The boys U13 team of Callum McCourt, Gavin Kelleher, Tim McCarthy, Rory Desmond and Ruairi Harrington finished in a very worthy 5th place out of 11 teams competing. Callum scored on the Cork team helping them win the county silver medal place.
\nThe Girls U15 team of Michelle O\u2019Donovan, Grainne Mulcahy, Katie Murphy and Olivia Tuthill had to cover 3500m and the team ran very well finishing in 7th place overall. Olivia scored on the Cork team helping them win the County title.
\nThe boys U17 team of Naoise O’Flaitheartaigh, John Muckian, Conor Calnan and Michael Laffan were the last of our teams to compete and they had a 5000m course to complete. All four lads ran very well with Naoise leading the team home finishing in 11th place winning himself an individual medal and also scoring on the Cork team winning Gold. The team finished in 4th place overall which qualifies them to compete in the all Irelands in 4 weeks time.
\nWell done to all our athletes on what was a challenging, but I hope rewarding day for all. Thanks also to the parents, supporters and coaches who helped on the day.<\/p>\n