Gutsy O’Reilly retains his title
ST PETER’S AC sent 22 athletes to Sunday’s annual Blackrock AC Cross-Country event where they earned medals of every colour.
Perhaps the highlight came from Harry O’Reilly who managed to win the Under-11 race for the second year in a row with a real gutsy display as he led from start to finish. Ben McKeown had his best-ever run to date and showed that hard work and a good attitude to training pays off with a fourth-place finish.
The first race with St Peter’s athletes in action was the Girls Under-9 in which the O’Reilly twins Emily and Hannah both had great runs to finish fourth and fifth in a large field.
The club had four athletes in the Girls Under-11 race and Dearbhla Allen finished eighth, closely followed by Orla McLoughlin, Catherine Carey and Mia Finnegan.
The Girls Under-13 race was well-contested race and the four St Peter’s athletes in action really packed well to earn the team a silver medal position. Niamh Brady led the team home with a hard-fought third-place finish, closely followed by Lucy Smith, Ellie Smyth and Isabeal Fitzpatrick.
The Boys Under-13 race was another really good spectacle and again the club had four athletes in action and all four really performed well to win the gold team medals. They were led home by Sean Allen, very closely followed by Mark Litchfield who had his best run since joining the club.
The other two, Jack McLaughlin and Padraic Tinnelly, are both Under-12 and also ran well to help secure first place.
The final race of the day was the Fit4Life 2.5K and club coach Eilish Brady put her toe on the line and set a great example to all of the juvenile athletes in attendance.
Shot-putter Tom McGrane was in action overseas when he travelled to Glasgow to take part in the Scottish Indoor Championships. McGrane threw 9.12m which left him in eighth place.
This week the athletes return to training and their focus will be on the upcoming Leinster Indoor Championships. However, before that Oldbridge will be the venue, with the Ràs na hEireann Cross-Country event hosted by Dunleer AC next Sunday afternoon.