Juvenile Notes, 12th December 2011

11 boys Team win All Ireland Club Championship

The under 11 boys team made their own piece of history last Sunday when they became the first West Waterford boys team to win an All Ireland club championship. The Curragh of Kildare was the venue for the second stage of the National Championships. Conditions were ideal a clear sunny day and dry underfoot. The windy course took advantage of every incline to test the young athletes, as did the sticky patch on the turn into the final straight. One hundred and fifty seven athletes lined up for the start of the under 11 boys among them six from West Waterford. Cian O Riordan was in the top ten for most of the race and finished very strongly to clinch 7th place. The under 10 pair of Cormac Mahony and Sean Hickey battled strongly and were still passing athletes on the home straight to finish 29th and 32nd and Sean Ronayne showed the benefits of having run in this race last year finishing up thirty six places in 37th. Newcomers Matthew Walsh and Liam Hamilton got their first taste of All Ireland running and finished 117th and 136th. The combined score of the top four athletes gave a team total of 105pts well ahead of Finn Valley of Donegal and Naas A.C.  In the inter regional competition Munster won gold and Cian O’Riordan was a scoring member of the team, while Cian Cormac, Sean Hickey and Sean Ronayne all helped Waterford win the bronze medals in the inter county competition. In the under 11 girls race Emily O’ Mahony improved twenty nine places on her run of last year to finish 60th while Lucy Holmes who is still under 10 showed great determination in finishing 64th and Roisin Drummy in only her third race ever finished the 1,500m in 130th place.

Individual Bronze and Munster Gold for Micheal Power

Micheal Power certainly saved his best run of the year for the All Ireland championships. Over the last few weeks he has been improving with every outing and showed that in Sligo when running out of his age he just missed an individual medal when he finished 13th. On Sunday last he had determination written all over his face as he ran with the leading group for most of the 2,500m. He turned into the finishing straight in 3rd place and held off the strong challenge of Christy Conlon of Antrim to take the individual bronze. Munster again dominated the inter regional contest and as a scoring member of the team Micheal added a gold to his individual bronze.  Patrick Walsh (106), Eoin Ryan (113) and Shaun O’Mahony (125) got a good idea of the pace of an All Ireland championship and this will stand to them next year.

Silver for under 13 Girls in Inter Club Competition

The under 13 girls finished second in the inter club contest behind last years champions DSD. Bronagh Condon ran well especially in the second half the race where she moved from 25th to finish 11th and claimed an individual medal. Emma Hallahan also moved up several places towards the end of the race to finish 24th and win a gold medal as a scoring member of the Munster team who won the inter regional contest by just one point from Leinster. Caoimhe Dwyer and Dairina Ni Sheanlaoich ran strongly throughout the 2,500m to finish 30th and 34th. Chloe Fennell improved her performance again to finish 48th while Rachel Wyley completed the team finishing in 85th place. The inter county contest was a very tight contest with only eleven points separating the first four teams. Meath, Dublin and Clare filled the first three places with Waterford missing out on the medals by just one point.

Silver for under 15 Girls in the Inter Club Championships

Waterford athletes had their strongest performance of the day in the under 15 championships. Waterford teams filled the first two places in the inter club contest with Ferrybank taking the gold and West Waterford the silver. This was a great result for the West Waterford girls three of whom for were running out of their age. Aoife Hamilton brought a memorable season to a close with a fourth place finish. Aoife was a scoring member of the Munster team that won gold in the inter regional contest. Aoife ended her cross country season with individual, county and regional medals in both the under 14 and 15 age groups.

Sinead Flynn was back to her best form and finished strongly in 19th  place. Meg Ryan showed a huge improvement on her run in Sligo and finished 45th. Cliona Ryan suffered a bad stitch in the first 1,000m but battled through the next 2,500 to finish 59th.  Sarah Wyley was lucky to make it to the start line having just recovered from illness and finished 76th.  Aoife, Sinead, and Meg were all scoring members of the Waterford team that took gold in the inter county competition.

Illness takes its toll on Under 15 boys team  

Both Sean Curran and Tholm Reddy missed out on their chance to compete with the Munster team when illness forced their late withdrawal from the under 15 boys race. However the other four on the team competed with Shane O’ Riordan the first of the West Waterford athletes home in 50th place. Eoin O’Brien and Liam O’ Reilly moved up a year and finished 73rd and 90th while Chris O’ Mahony was competing at this level for the first time and finished 116th.

Silver for Lucy O’Brien

Lucy O’Brien has made huge progress this year and rounded off her season with a 15th place finish. Lucy was a scoring member of the Munster team that finished second in the inter regional contest and she finished her season with two silver medals won with Munster under 17 and 18 teams. The girls had the worst of the conditions with a very heavy shower and a very cold wind during their race. Katie Hamilton also showed huge improvement when finishing 64th.

In the under 17 boys Robbie Mulligan ran in the middle of the field for the race and finished in 48th place. In the final race of the day Damian Murphy finished 38th of the sixty-four competitors.

We rounded off the day and our most successful season to date with an excellent meal in the Newpark Hotel in Kilkenny where the athletes were presented with their medals. We will take a short break over the Christmas but Tony will be back in action in Colligan on Wed December 28th @11am. This session is intended for all those who will be competing in the schools cross-country in January.

Good Run by Kate in Slovenia

The mobile phone came in handy as texts between the Curragh and Slovia kept everyone up to date on what was happening at both venues. Kate Veale was the third of the Irish team to cross the line in 57th place as the team finished as they did in Sligo. Well done to Kate. There was a great reaction as news filtered through of Fiona Britton’s win in the senior race. All in West Waterford send her warmest congratulations. Best wishes for a great Christmas to all our athletes and their families.