Blackrock put on strong showing at DkIT races
CROSS COUNTRY
THERE was a solid sprinkling of Blackrock AC athletes at the uneven age cross country championships in DkIT on Sunday.
Some were taking part for the second weekend in a row with Donnacha and Oisín Hughes back to compete in the U17 and U19 5000m respectively.
Family honours went to Oisín who collected silver in his race with Donnacha coming home 5th in his. Kellie Breen added to her medal tally for the season with a silver in the U17 5000m.
James Scanlon, Daniel DeLasa, Hugo Nolan, Sam Jeytoo and Roan Carroll kicked things off for the younger members of the club as they took to the line for the Boys U9 600m. All the boys dug deep to produce some fine performances with special mention going to James Scanlon who stormed home in an excellent 6th place. Jack Greene was the club’s sole representative in the Boys U11 1500m and as we have come to expect he gave 100% over a testing course to finish well inside the top twenty.
The girls U11 team was made up of Grace Reilly, Emmy Jeytoo, Sarah Braniff, Erin Finnegan and Ailish Fee.
Each one of the girls worked hard all the way round the course with Grace leading the team home to a well-deserved bronze medal in the team event. Ethan Doherty and Keelan Carroll gave their all in the Boys U13 2500m with the same being said of Rebecca Baldwin and Ciara O’Brien in the girl’s equivalent.
The next destination for the club is the Bush as we look forward to the Kearney and McBride event hosted by Glenmore AC. GLENMORE were well represented in the intermediate and uneven ages cross country races at DkIT on Sunday.
The ladies team of Fiona McQuade, Sarah Dooney, Kinga Byrne and Vicky Leahy came home 4th.
Shane Lynch stormed home in first place inspiring seniors and juveniles alike followed by teammates Martin Toner, Donal McMorland, Ciaran Walsh, Kenneth McBride, Patrick White, Tony Ashby, Sean Cumiskey, Cormac Barry, Michael McShane, Kevin Harnett and Lloyd Byrne.
The men’s team also took fourth place.
Meanwhile on Saturday Glenmore seniors in training for marathons were all getting their long runs in with Gerry Stewart competing in the East of Ireland run whilst Stephen O’Connor and Rose White were flat out with relays of helpers on their ‘Tour de Cooley and Omeath. Then Fiona embarked on her long run AFTER the cross country.
A cold and breezy Darver was the destination for thirty club athletes who were competing on day one of the championship hosted by St. Peter’s AC.
Siofra Halpenny, Rebecca McCormack, and Sarah Mathews kicked things off for the club with an excellent showing in the U8 Girls 300m and this was followed up by another set of top class performances when the U8 Boys team consisting of Emmet Kearney, Cormac Green, Oisín McGuiness, Max Melaniphy and Oisín Curran burned up the track in their 300m marking a very successful debut for all our under eight athletes who enjoyed their first taste of cross country action this season.
A huge entry in the U10 800m was always going to make it tough going for the Blackrock girls given that time and space was at a premium, especially over the first few hundred metres. Despite this each member of the team ran superbly with top ten finishes recorded by Grace Reilly, Megan McEvoy and Caoimhe Doherty. These three were followed home very soon afterwards by Eilish Fee, Maebh O’Neill, Blaithín Halpenny and One of the successful Glenmore girls teams.
The juvenile’s enjoyed another great day at the uneven championships, with some wonderful individual and team performances.
First up were the girls U9 600m with Zoe White taking the silver medal and Sarah Duffy rewarded with a medal finishing in 10th
position.
Gillian Touhy, Aoife Mc Donald, and Sophie Cummiskey all competed strongly. Over a tough 1500m Glenmore had a strong U11 girls field taking 4th &5th team position, competing on the day Mia Ashby, Jessica White, Erin Braniff who packed nicely and complete the course in fine style. A team bronze was the reward for their efforts. Jack Green, Dillon Rowland, Oscar Conway and Ronan Traynor were the Boys U10 representatives and each team member can be proud of their performance over a very testing 800m. It was Dillon who led the charge coming home inside the top ten followed closely by Jack with Oscar and Ronan not too far behind.
The clubs first medal of the day was secured by Rebecca Baldwin who translated her superb track Ellen Callan, Grace Keenan, Leah Dunne, Emma Mc Carragher, Katie Mc Donald, Aine O Reilly and Aoife Keenan.
The girls U13 ran 2500m and were rewarded with a second medal in the team awards with the girls running well led home by Lisa Conlon who ran a very strong race and took bronze individual position.
She was followed home by team mates Claudia Mullen, Lucy White, Ava Brady, Ava Ashby, Sarah Mallon and Charlotte Mc Bride. The girls U15 all ran very well over the 3500m course with Zofia Mullen finishing 2nd and Anna Mc Ardle 3rd, Blanaid Murphy, Nicole Barry and Katie Conlon finishing very strong.
The girls took gold in the team event. Girls U17 & 19 ran with the ladies over the 4000m course with Katie Mallon taking 3rd in the U17 closely followed by Meave White in 5th position and Sinead Mc Erlane taking 3rd in the U19 event.
The boys U9 were represented by Ronan Dunne, Mario Liam form to the country and collected a very fine silver medal in the Girls U12 2000m. Rebecca was ably supported in her endeavours by excellent efforts from Emmy Jeytoo and Erin Finnegan who both ran hard all the way round to place well in another very large field. The clubs dynamic duo of Sean Reilly and Ethan Doherty, recent winners of the pairs relay event at the Blackrock Road Race, were unlucky not to add to their success in the Boys U12 2000m with Sean showing well for most of the race only to be run out into fourth place and Ethan demonstrating a fine turn of pace in a sprint to the line finish inside the top 20.
With no entries in the U14 age groups it was the Boys U16 team who took centre stage next for the club. As was the case in so many of the distance races this season it was Donnacha Hughes who dominated proceedings as he wound the pace up steadily over the 4K course to systemically burn off the opposition and cruise home to a well-deserved Gold medal. Solid performances by his team mates, Franco Van Heerden, Eoghan Smyth and DeWet Van Heerden resulted in a team gold for this talented group.
In the closing events of the day Kellie Breen maintained her absolute dominance in the Girls U18 division, both on the track and in the country, easing to another Gold medal in an already gold plated season. Oisín Hughes was just edged out in the boys U18 4K whilst Annabelle Morris made a welcome return to running in club colours and produced an excellent performance to collect a silver medal in Novice Ladies event. Gaztambide and Oisin Mc Coy who all ran very well.
The U11 boys team led home by a very strong Elliot Nichols, Criaig Touhy, Luke Spain and Aaron Hanratty were 4th in the team event over the 1500m.
U13 boys too competed strongly over their 2500m course with James Dunne, Fionn O Reilly, Shane Gallagher, James Spain and Cormac Mc Coy representing the club. U17 & U19 boys ran together over the 5000m course.
The U17 boys took bronzed in the team event with Ciaran Flynn, Justin O Hagan and Eoin Mc Cann. In the U19 boys Tadhg Leahy took 3rd and Alex O Hagan finished 4th.
The club is looking forward to next week’s Kearney and McBride cup races on Sunday 15th at 1pm.
It will be an exciting days athletics for juveniles and seniors alike with the Johnny Mullen, McBride and Kearney cups up for grabs. Please see www.glenmoreac. com for further details. Leah Mooney celebrates her victory in the