Boyne do the double with Best Club titles
A GREAT weekend of action on and off the cross-country fields was topped off for Boyne AC when the club scooped Best Club 2016 awards for both cross-country and track & field at the Athletics Louth Awards Night on Friday.
An excited and hopeful group of more than 60 athletes and their families headed to the Crowne Plaza in Dundalk for the annual function and the evening began with the introduction of Olympic 400m hurdles finalist Thomas Barr, who gave the young athletes some wise words of encouragement before presenting the awards for the various categories.
Individual awards were won by Oliver Carolan, who unusually was the recipient for U-9 to U-11 boys in both track & field and cross-country, and by Euan Canniffe who won in the U12 to U-14 track & field section. Certificates of nomination were presented to Shola Lawrence, Saran Meite, Neil Culhane, Tadgh Everitt Thompson, Ruarcan O’Gibne, Tara Meier and Niamh Kelly, and certificates of achievement presented to all those who won National medals in 2016 - including Lorcan Forde Dunne, Oliver Carolan, Pelumi Fanifosi, Paddy Price, Killian Ekhator, Aaron Fennell, Harry Carolan, Tara Meier, Emer Doyle, Neil Culhane, Cathal Monaghan and Ruarcan O’Gibne.
The icing on the cake, however, was the awarding of both perpetual trophies for Best Club 2016 in Track & Field and in Cross-Country to Boyne AC. It’s a rare occurrence for an athletics club to win both awards, and a true testament to the strength of Boyne AC and the commitment and dedication of all its athletes and their parents, coaches and committee members.
It was then off to Tyrrellspass on Sunday for day three of the Leinster Cross-County. The uneven age groups were in action over a tough course in good weather and the day began with a non-championship event for the U-9 athletes which saw Kate Culhane and Rhys Clarke both finish in the top 10.
The championship races then got under way, with the U-11 Girls taking on the 1500m distance. Some fine performances saw Eimear Cooney finish in 31st position - third in county - with Isabella Garcia, Allie Garcia and Leah Mohan all finishing close behind.
The U-11 Louth boys team finished in a super fourth position, ably assisted by super running from Paddy Price who was 15th overall in a field of more than 120 athletes and first in his county. Aaron Fennell, Killian Ekhator and Sean Cummins all ran well.
The U-13 Girls had a tough 2,500m to contend with, but rose to the challenge, finishing as fifth club overall, with great running from Eimear Doyle (22nd, 1st in county), Anna Faulkner (24th, 2nd in county), Pelumi Fanifosi (26th, 3rd in county), with the fourth and fifth county places going to Lily Cummins and Saran Meite.
In the U-13 Boys race the star of the day was Neil Culhane, who, running out of age, finished third thanks to a fantastic finishingsprint. Neil now qualifies individually and as part of the second-placed Louth team to contest both the even and uneven-age National Championships.
The Boys U-15 race saw Tom Cummins and Killian McLoughlin both give fine performances over a gruelling 3,500m, while in the U-17 Girls event Eva Cummins finished in an impressive 14th place overall (1st in county) over the longer 4,000m distance.