Juvenile Notes, 28th November 2011

West Waterford Girls win All Ireland under 14 Title

The first session of the All Ireland Championships were held in ideal conditions on Sligo racecourse on Sunday last. There was a fine wide start but it was a very tough course with long uphill stretches and the heavy rain of the previous week made underfoot conditions very sticky. First in action were the under 14 girls who were determined to defend the under 13 club title won in Tullamore last year. Aoife Hamilton started the race well and for much of the first lap ran shoulder to shoulder with the defending champion Nadia Power of Dublin. On the second lap Aoife pulled away on the end of the downhill stretch and went 30m clear but on the long uphill section she was hauled in by the defending champion and came home 2nd her best place finish ever in an All Ireland competition. Aoife has made huge improvement over the last two years and we will hear a lot more about her in the coming years. Aoife led the Munster team to first place in the inter regional contest and Waterford to gold in the inter county competition. Aoife was well supported with some great running from her teammates. Emma Hallahan was in 15th place for much of the race but a lost shoe threw her off her stride and she finished 21st good enough to score on the Munster and county teams. Bronagh Condon and Sinead Flynn were close together for much of the race gradually making their way from high twenties through the field Bronagh put in a great spurt in the last 800m to move up to 10th place and win an individual medal as well as scoring on both the Munster and county teams. Sinead battled her way to 23rd place to take the fourth scoring spot on the team and also scored on the winning county team. Caoimhe Dwyer continued her good form and came home 37th with a much improver Dairina Ni Sheanlaoich in 41st. Meg Ryan has been missing training with a foot injury for the past few weeks and she did well to finish this tough course.
Aoife, Sinead and Meg will compete under 15 in the Curragh in two weeks time while Bronagh, Emma, Caoimhe and Dairina will compete under 13.

Bronze for Micheal Power and Liam O’ Reilly

The under 14 boys showed a huge improvement in form on Sunday last. They qualified for last Sundays race by finishing third team in the Munster Championships. Michael Power had finished 7th in the Munster championships but he really came into form on Sunday to finish 13th in the race just missing out on an individual medal but won a bronze medal with the Munster team in the inter regional competition. Micheal was the 4th scorer for Munster finishing well ahead of some of the athletes who were ahead of him in the Munster championships. Eoin O’Brien had his best race ever finishing 28th a huge improvement on his run in Munster where he had finished 23rd. Liam O’ Reilly was the 6th scoring athlete for Munster in 34th position and won his first All Ireland medal a bronze with Munster. Aidan Mc Kenna was the fourth scoring member of the team finishing 79th and just holding off Eoin Ryan in 81st place. The team placed 4th and were the leading Munster team on the day.

Silver Medal for Lucy O’Brien

Our final medal winner on the day was Lucy O’Brien. Lucy has improved with every race this year and last Sunday was no exception. Lucy finished 19th in the race and was the 5th scoring member of the Munster team that finished 2nd in the inter regional competition. This was a massive improvement on her 11th place in the Munster championships. Kaylee Norris 57th, Una Mc Grath 60th, Emer Duff 61st and Jennifer Meehan 64th all did well to finish the very tough 5000m course.

Good Run from Sean Curran

Running a year out of age Sean Curran ran well over the 4000m course to finish in 20th place in the under 16 boys race. Sean was the third Munster athlete home but Munster finished just outside the medals in 4th place. In the under 16 girls race the club and county team finished 7th. Cliona Ryan led the team home in 44th place with Sarah Wyley not far behind in 52nd place. Katie Hamilton is another athlete who is improving with every outing and finished 62nd while Catherine Henley competing in her first All Ireland finished 99th.

County Schools Championships on Friday

Many of the above athletes will be competing for their schools at the Waterford Schools Cross Country Championships on Friday next in St Augustine’s College starting at 11.30.

Dates for your Diary

• Wed 30th Nov Final team race in Easons League
• Wed 2nd Dec County Schools Cros Country St Augustine’s 11.30
• Wed 2nd Dec Final Run and Presentation of Prizes in Easons league
• Mon 5th Dec Club AGM all parents and athletes 15 and older welcome. See notice board at training for details
• Sunday 11th Dec All Ireland Championships under 11,13,15,17and 19 The Curragh 11.30 start.