Boyne club excel across all the ages
DAY two of the Athletics Louth Cross Country Championships took place on a challenging course in the impressive sports grounds of Dundalk Institute of Technology, with Boyne AC once again excelling across all ages.
The Intermediate Men got things off to a flying start, where distance star Oisin O’Gibne proved he is returning to form with a third-place finish in a tough 8,000m race in a time of 28:45.
The Juvenile races then began with the U-9 Girls, where there were top-10 finishes from Sadhbh O’Donoghue (6th), Naiya Semple (7th), Bonnie Hegarty (8th) and Lauren Faulkner (10th).
In the Boys U-9 race a fantastic run from Jack McDonnell saw him finish third, with clubmate Ruadhan Fangareu not far behind.
The U-11 Girls had a tough 1500m distance to contend with, but in true style they made light work of the competition to take the first team prize, with a win for Sholah Lawrence, followed closely by Chloe Cooney in second, running out of age. Kate Culhane finished seventh, while Chloe Hanley made up the team, finishing in 17th.
It was team gold for the U-11 Boys too as Lorcan Forde Dunne sailed to victory, followed closely by Alex Robertson in third, with Tadgh Forde Dunne 10th and Luca McLoughlin 17th, both running out of age. They were followed closely by Fergus Nolan and Daniel Hanley who both ran well.
Eimear Cooney, who became the Louth U-12 champion recently, ran a great race to finish third out of age in the U-13 Girls 2,500m, with great runs also from Isabella Garcia (11th) and Ella McLoughlin (14th).
In the Boys U-13 race Shea O’Donnell led from the outset and won with a commanding lead, followed closely by Paddy Price in a fine third place. Ensuring team gold for the boys, Caelan Quinn finished in fifth, with clubmate Emmet McEvoy 12th.
Yet another team gold went to the Girls U-15 team of Lily Cummins (2nd overall), Anna Faulkner (4th) and Eabha Cosgrove (6th). Also running well over a tough 3,500m distance were Saran Meite and Rosin Kennedy in eighth and 10th respectively. It was a one-two for Boyne in the U-15 Boys race, with strong runs from Neil Culhane and Danny Nugent just behind him, and along with teammate Ben Hughes the boys took home the silver team medals.
The U-17 Boys had a gruelling 4,000m to contend with, but super runs from Tom Cummins (4th), Killian McLoughlin (7th) and Christian Quinn (8th) saw the trio take home the silver team medals.
The final event of the day saw the U-19 Boys battle it out over 4,000m also, and that event resulted in a fine win for Ruarcan O’Gibne, followed closely by Tadgh Everitt Thompson in third.