Presentation of Prizes for Tony’s League Sponsored by InterSportElverys on Wed Next
Next Wed will be the final run in our Winter League and the last training session of the season. On Wed we will be using a countdown clock each athlete will go off at their fastest time during the league with the fastest athlete off last. If everyone runs to form we should have all our athletes finishing at the same time. There will be prizes for the first two athletes across the line.
After the race the prizes will be presented in the Friary Gym. Parents are welcome to attend the race and the prize giving. The team prizes will be presented first. Anyone who is in the top three teams is not eligible for an individual prizes. We have twelve individual prizes. With the money collected at training during the League and the Sponsorship from InterSportElverys we have a prize fund of 850 euros. We will then take a well deserved Christmas break. Tony will be back in action shortly after Christmas with those from the local secondary schools who will be competing in the Schools Cross Country events in January and February.
There were some good performance in last week’s league where 21 athletes bettered their best times. Colm O’Muiri became the third boy under 11 to break eight minutes when he ran 7.49 the same time as Kevin Russell. Caoimhe Houlihan has improved her time by over a minute to 10.43 and Natalie Barry and Fiadh Hamlin continue to lower their times each week.
Our race walkers have one last event as they will compete in Dublin at the race walking grand prix on Dec 17th.
All Ireland Medal for Naoise MacMhurchadha
The final cross country of the season took place on Sunday last in Navan RaceCourse. West Waterford was delighted to have sixteen athletes who had qualified through the Provincial Championships competing at the event. !500 athletes from all over the country converged on Navan for a great days cross country running. West Waterford had one medal winner on the day Naoise MacMhurchadha who finished 33rd on the day and was the sixth scoring athlete for the Munster Team that claimed the bronze medals in the inter provincial contest. This was an improvement on Naoise’s run in the Munster Championships where he finished 8th and also made up for last year’s All Ireland where he just missed out on a medal as the seventh Munster athlete home.
First All Ireland for Ellie Mai, Leah, Isabelle and Eile
This was the first taste of All Ireland Competition for our Under 11 girls who competed as part of the Waterford team. There were 200 hundred athletes competing in a very strong field. Conditions were ideal for cross country running with a crisp fine day and the best underfoot conditions we saw all year. Ellie Mai Doherty had her best run of the year. She got out well and was always in the top 50 coming across the line in 41st which was a huge step up from her 42nd placing in the Munster Championships. Ellie Mai was the first Waterford athlete home in the race. Leah Kiely didn’t get out as well and had a hard job trying to make her way through the big field but worked steadily to make it into the top 100. Isabelle Daly also had a very good run on Sunday and her 103rd place was an improvement on her run in the Munsters. Eile de Paor worked steadily throughout the race and came home in 151st place. The Waterford team finished in 9th place.
In the girls under 13 race Ava Kiely was the sixth scoring girl on the Waterford team that finished in 8th place this was better than her performance in the Munster Championships where she was the eight Waterford athlete home. Saoirse Kinsella took a fall early in the race on one of the slippery turns on the course but got back up quickly and came home in 157th place.
In the girls under 15 race Isabelle Gaffney had her best race of the season and got out well. She was competitive throughout the race and was still sprinting up the hill on the run in to finish 46th. Siun Cunningham turned the tables on Luisne de Paor reversing their Munster positions with Suin in 140th and Luisne 155th.
In the boys under 15 Noah Commins who is still recovering from his illness of a few weeks ago didn’t get the best of starts and found himself in the mid 40’s on the first lap. He had to work hard to make his way up the field and improved with each lap to finish in 23rd place.
Top Twenty Finish for Fia de Paor
Fia de Paor was the first Munster girl home in the under 17 girls race and was also the top finisher on the day for West Waterford crossing the line in 19th place. Unluckily the Munster team finished in 4th place which meant there was no medals for Munster athletes in the inter provincial competition but Fia can be happy with a big improvement on last year’s performance where she finished 46th. Next home we had Sarah Gaffney who put in a steady performance to finish 72nd. Sarah O’Riordan and Lauren Cliffe were rewarded for their hard training all year withn their best place finishes in an All Ireland with Sarah 80th and Lauren 89th. Eabha Hickey had a much better run than in the Munsters and finished 118th. The Waterford team finished in 7th place.
