IMRA race at Corrin Hill
After a well-earned Christmas break training for juveniles aged U10 upwards and for those competing in the All-Ireland Bs resumed on Sunday, January 9 at Corrin. This was excellent preparation for the 10 junior athletes who participated in their first IMRA Munster trail run on Sunday, January 23. They train at Corrin on a regular basis and do hill repeats there, but this run was a little different because the ascent to the cross was a very steep affair. In spite of this, they had a great time and relished every second of it.
The U10s ran an 800 metre distance with their parents in tow. Congratulations to Holly Anna and Daisy Sheehy, who ran their first race with their dad Liam! Thomas and Christine McElvaney also ran in the children’s race, well done to both of them.
Rachel O’Flynn, Emilie McElvaney, Alex and Henry Bagnall, Sean O’Connor and his cousin Luke O’Connor ran the challenging 4.5km junior race afterwards. It was a clean sweep for our Grange juveniles as Rachel was first, followed by Emilie, Henry, Sean, Luke and then Alex. Congratulations to all.
SOUTH MUNSTER SCHOOL XC CHAMPIONSHIPS
The South Munster School XC Championships took place last Friday, February 4 in Riverstick. It was a sunny day and underfoot conditions were very good. There were 8 races on the day and the club had 10 athletes running representing Coláiste an Chraoibhín, Loreto Secondary School and St Colman’s College.
1500m Minor girls - Congratulations to Rachel O’Flynn who finished first and Maebh O’Connor both representing Loreto. 2000m Minor boys - Donnacha Geary (52nd) and Daniel Dorgan (90th) representing Colman’s. Well done boys. 2000m Junior girls race - Cathy Keane who was running for Loreto (58th). Well done Cathy. 3000m Intermediate girls - In the 3000m Intermediate girls race, Rachael Walsh running for Coláiste an Chraoibhín came in 9th position. Well done Rachael. 3000m Senior girls - In the Senior 3000m girls race, our newly registered athlete Sarah O’Connor representing Loreto did really well for her very first race as she finished 27th. The athletes representing Loreto earned a team silver medal. Congratulations! 5000m Senior boys - The last race of the day was the 5000m Senior boys race with Coláiste an Chraoibhín’s Cian McGirr finishing 15th and St Colman’s Jamie Dineen finishing 50th. Cian O’Callaghan of Coláiste an Chraoibhín who is registered with St Nich’s but runs with us at our weekly Sergiu Ciobanu speed sessions finished 35th. Well done boys.
The Munster Championships will take place in Co Waterford in March so best of luck to the athletes who qualified.
ALL-IRELAND XC MASTERS AND JUVENILE B
On Sunday, February 13, the All-Ireland XC Masters and Juvenile B will be held at Castlelyons and a total of 25 junior athletes and 15 masters athletes are competing. Best of luck to U11 Henry Bagnall, Sean O’Connor, Luke O’Connor, Sean Hartnett, Christine McElvaney, Hannah O’Driscoll, Charlotte Purcell, Claire O’Donnell, Erika Dorgan and Louise Finn. U13 Tadhg O’Mara, Matthew Long, Finn O’Driscoll, Fionn Hayes, Senan Lynch, Tony Hartnett, John Curtin, Maja Rus and Alex Bagnall.
U15 Rachel O’Flynn, Calum Geary, Donnacha Geary, Daniel Dorgan, and Tomasz Kaskiewicz. All the best to our Masters: Conor McElvaney, David Greene, Ben O’Connor, Liam O’Connor, Liam Sheehy, Maurice Tobin, Tony Dunne, Maggie Dunne, Claire Lomasney, Marina Seymour, Eileen Finn, Caroline McCarthy, Angela O’Mahony, Emilija Dorgan and Clotilde Fitzgibbon.
For anyone interested, training for juveniles takes place on Tuesday at Coláiste an Chraoibhín and Thursday in St Colman’s Pitch at 7pm. For further information please contact Clotilde Fitzgibbon 086-3162145 or Mike Hayes 0879645682.