Unattached group make their mark in Blackrock
SOME 35 unaffiliated athletes from the locality, all wearing plain white vests, did themselves proud at the recent Blackrock Cross-Country event when scooping a number of podium places - including seven gold medals.
Starting the day off was the youngest athlete, Tio Laurence, whon won the Under-7 event and it was a similar story in the Under-9 Boys event where Nathan Robertson took a very comfortable first place.
Chloe Cooney won the Under-11 girls title by a very significant margin, while in the equivalent boys race the unattached group who kept up the momentum thanks to Tadhg Forde Dunne (4th), Luca McLoughlin (8th), Cormac McEvoy (9th) and Jake Hughes who was 14th in this his first-ever competitive race.
In the Under-13 Girls age group three of the top four places went to the unaffiliated athletes, with Eimear Cooney first to finish, Shola Laurence second (out of age) and Isabella García continuing to show incredible progress to take an impressive fourth. Kate Culhane and Chloe Hanley also had super races.
There was more joy in the Under-13 Boys race as Shea O’Donnell and Lorcan Forde Dunne took the first two places, with Emmet McEvoy eighth and Rhys Clarke producing another very strong performance.
In the Under-15 Girls event Ella McLoughlin finished in a fantastic eighth position, while among the boys in that age group was Danny Nugent who took a very impressive runner-up spot, with Ben Hughes third and Neil Culhane seventh.
The last race of the day saw Cillian McLoughlin top the podium and Josh Nulty take a very impressive third place, while Anna Faulkner continued to show very impressive form when securing victory in the Girls Under-17 event.