St Peter’s athletes at home in Darver
ST PETER’S AC acted as the hosts on Sunday as the Louth Cross-Country Championship season kicked off with the Novice men and women races and the even-age races for juveniles.
The competition took place in perfect surroudings at the Louth GAA Centre in Darver and Harry Oreilly had an excellent run for St Peters’ in the boys under 12 race when running out of his age to finish a brilliant third.
Harry also led home the St Peters under 12 team who all ran really well to finish 2nd.
Cormac McKeown responded to his late call-up to closely follow Harry, and just behind him was Padraic Tinnelly and Ben McKeown.
The boys under 14 team had a great showing, with six athletes on the start line, and from the outset it was clear that the team battle would be close between St Peters and Boyne AC.
The St Peters team worked well together and their team work paid off as they became county champions with just two points to spare. They were led home by Cian Gorham, followed by Sean Allen, Mark Litchfield, Rory McLoughlin, Dean Murtagh and Calum Grant.
The girls under 14 race was also keenly contested, with all bar one of the St Peters team eligible to run under 13.
The whole team did really well over the 3,000m course and were led home by Niamh Brady, closely followed by Lucy Smyth, Dearbhla Tinnelly, Judith Bell and Niamh Fanning.
The girls under 10 race started the juvenile championship proceedings and the St Peter’s club had a mainly inexperienced team that will have gained valuable experience - consisting of Orla McLoughlin, Catherine Carey, Emily and Hannah O’Reilly and Mia Finnegan.
In the girls under 12 race, which was run over a 2,000m course, Dearbhla Allen - who was running out of age - had an excellent run to lead the St Peters team home with a fifth-place finish, Dearbhla was followed on the team by Ellie Smyth, Isabeal Fitzpatrick, Lucy Brennan and Abbey Fanning.
The girls faced heartbreak when the team results were tallied as the were level on points with 2nd and 3rd place but unfortu- nately lost out on a countback, so the girls had to settle for 4th.
The juvenile programme commenced with a non-championship under 8 race that was hosted by St Peters. Niamh Allen represented the girls and Liam McKeown and Cain Murtagh did likewise in the boys race, with all three doing the club proud.
The busy programme of events commenced with the ladies Novice race which was run over 3,000m. The St Peters club had a team take part and all of the women ran really well and set great example to the club’s younger athletes.
The team was led home by Catriona McKeown, closely followed by Roisin Renehen, Patrica Smyth, Elizibeth Fitzpatrick and Maria Duffy. Next Sunday it’s day 2 of the Louth Cross-Country Championships at DkIT where the intermediate races will take place for the adults and uneven age races for the juveniles.