A WONDERFUL DAY
Hewlett performance the icing on a super Wexford cake
IT WAS a wonderful day for Athletics Wexford last Sunday at the Irish Life Health National Juvenile Uneven Ages and Novice Cross Country Championships, held in Cow Park, Dunboyne.
Some of the county’s top athletes delivered when it mattered most and ensured that plenty of silverware returned to the county by evening. With these championships bringing down the curtain on the domestic athletics calendar, some of the Wexford contingent finished the year where they started, on the podium.
Ruby Gallagher O’Reilly of Croghan AC got the action underway from a Wexford perspective in the girls under-11 1,500m. She gave a very good account of herself.
Following Ruby was Jayden Kenny of Bree AC in the boys under-11 1,500m race. Jayden is a very dynamic athlete and showed this again with another solid display of cross-country running in tough conditions.
The under-15 boys 3,500m race was next the next race with Wexford interest. Following on from a superb third place in the under-16 race in Abbotstown a few weeks prior, Myles Hewlett of United Striders AC had his eyes set on finishing higher in Dunboyne and ending his year on a high.
Myles has had an exceptional year, where he even had the opportunity to put on the green singlet of Ireland at the SIABs Cross Country Championships.
He was in majestic form on Sunday and improved on his third-place finish in Abbotstown, claiming top spot in Dunboyne. Wexford athletes very rarely deliver National gold medals, so when they do it is an achievement that should be savoured. Myles finished ahead of Jack McCausland of City of Lisburn AC and rival David Williams of St. Senan’s AC, Kilmacow, in the process.
Finishing fast behind Myles was another athlete from the successful New Ross club, Eoin Shannon. Eoin also made the medals, finishing in a superb ninth place.
This is also an incredible achievement to finish in the top 10 at national level.
The United Striders club team finished first, with Hewlett and Shannon being joined by Will Park, Finn Kelly and Aidan Kehoe. It is great to see the club asserting their dominance at National level once again. Hewlett and Shannon picked up their third medal and Park his second of the day, as they were scoring members of the Leinster Provincial team that won silver.
The Wexford County team finished seventh and included James Hegarty, Alex Lafferty, Darragh Ennis and Ben Redmond of D.M.P AC.
The next athlete in action was Claragh Keane of D.M.P AC. Claragh was racing out of her age category this time round, which is always a difficult task.
Claragh, like Myles also had the opportunity of wearing the Irish vest this year and it is evident from her performances in the latter half of 2019 that this has definitely stood to her.
In her most recent outing, she finished eighth in the under-16 girls race in Abbotstown.
On Sunday, Claragh had yet another fantastic run, showing great fight and determination throughout. She dug deep when she had to and that ensured that she once again finished in the medals at the National Cross Country Championships, placing 12th.
The boys under-17 team were dealt with two major blows in the lead up to their 5000m race, with Joe Byrne of S.B.R AC and Robert Wall of United Striders AC ruled out due to injury and illness respectively.
Having these two athletes would’ve significantly boosted the team’s standings. Both athletes still travelled to support their teammates.
Aidan Shannon of the Striders led home the team, with Ben Wall not too far behind. Also on the team was Ronan Griffin of D.M.P AC, Darragh Flannelly of United Striders AC, Daniel Byrne of Croghan AC, Jack Byrne of S.B.R AC and Senan Murray of Kilmore AC.
The novice women’s 4,000m race was next on the programme. Clodagh Kelly, who won the Mr. Oil County Intermediate Cross Country title in Lingstown, Tomhaggard, the week prior, was the sole Wexford athlete competing.
Kelly, who runs for Croghan AC, has had a whirlwind 2019, only entering competitive athletics this year. She was an unknown quantity going into her first race, the County Novice Road Race in February and by the end of that race, most people realised they had witnessed a performance from someone with fantastic potential. Since then, Kelly has been nearly unbeatable and finished a fantastic third in the County Senior Cross Country and fourth in the Leinster Novice Cross Country.
With conditions underfoot beginning to deteriorate, Clodagh wasn’t deterred and got off to a very strong start. Some may have questioned whether she had gone off to hard but the opposite was true as for the most part she maintained her position throughout the race.
She crossed the line in 11th place, which ends her debut cross country season.
Her season was fantastic and she can look back on it and be very proud of what she has achieved. It would not come as a surprise to me if in twelve months’ time Clodagh was significantly higher up in this race.
Ger Forde of Slaney Olympic AC was the final Wexford athlete in action in the concluding race, the novice men’s 6,000m.
For several years now, Ger has been knocking on the door of making a national podium and he was determined to finally achieve this on Sunday.
From the gun, Ger was always near the front. After about one of the 1,500m laps, a group of six athletes, which included Ger and others from Sligo AC, Dundrum South Dublin AC, An Riocht AC (Co. Kerry), Ennis Track AC and Portlaoise AC broke away from the field. When the Sligo AC athlete broke away, the lead group was whittled down to five.
None of the leading pack wanted to be the one to make the decisive break with so much on the line, until with a lap to go the Portlaoise athlete decided to challenge the field and made a break. Ger valiantly gave chase and the Dundrum South Dublin athlete was left for dead, leaving only four in the mix. As the Portlaoise man and the Ennis Track athlete pulled away, Ger was left to fight for bronze against his Kerry counterpart.
As they entered the home straight, the medal was still not decided. Thankfully, for Ger, he found the extra gear and just managed to finish ahead of the An Riocht AC athlete by the slimmest of margins, ensuring that he would finally make a national podium. What a superb performance from Wexford’s top senior road and cross country athlete.
Unfortunately, at the time of writing, full results are still not available from the Athletics Ireland website. This report will be published on the Athletics Wexford website, www.wexfordathletics.com later in the week and will include full results. Apologies to whom this concerns.
That wraps up the domestic athletics calendar for 2019, however there are a couple of AAI permitted races in Wexford coming up at the end of 2019 and early 2020. The Croghan Chase 4k and 8k race returns on December 29 and in the New Year, the Sheridan Insurance Ferrycarrig 5 Mile, hosted by St. Killian’s AC, returns. Please support your local AAI Permit road races. Cross country will then return in early 2020 along with the indoor track and field season.