International Selection for Kate Veale
Kate Veale became the latest West Waterford athlete to gain a place on an Irish International Team with a brilliant run in the Kit Kat All Ireland Schools Cross County Championships that saw her finish in fifth place in a muddy and windswept Loughrea. Mud mud and more mud was the order of the day after a night of very heavy rain. The open nature of the course meant a strong wind was blowing against the athletes on the difficult uphill section and this combined with the very heavy going made this a very tough course that tested the stamina of the young athletes. It certainly was not a course for the fainthearted.
The first event the junior girls race got under way at 12noon and Kate Veale representing St.Augustines kept out of trouble by running wide from the start. She had to call on all her reserves over the tough course but ran strongly throughout to finish 5th and book her place on the Irish Schools Team for the international event in Scotland later this month. In the junior boys event Colin Dunford Dungarvan C.B.S. showed once again that he is a young athlete with great potential when he finished 13th in a very tough race. This is only Colins second run over this distance and he was not fazed by the difficulty of the course or the experience of the other athletes but ran with great determination throughout the race.
In the intermediate girls the race distance of 3,500m and the difficult conditions made this a huge test for the Ardscoil team but they battled hard throughout the race and the experience will stand to them as they are all under age for the event next year. They were led home by Edel Roche in 47th place with Rebecca Maher back from injury next in 69th. There was a sprint for the line with Clodagh Gallagher just finishing ahead of Colleen Whelan and Claire Collins who was suffering a heavy cold completing the finishers. Joe Conway continues to make steady progress with another fine run in the Intermediate boys event where he finished 28th.
In the senior girls event Elma Nugent was in good form and showed the progress she has made this year when she finished 28th and there was a much improved run from Jenny Hurley who was 44th. While in the senior boys Rory Moloney had a fine run to take 27th place in a race run over 6,500m. Well done to all who took part.
Good Turn Out at Training
Training for the track season got under way last week. There was a good turn out of athletes on both Wednesday and Friday nights. We continue every week at 6.00pm Wed and Fri at the Friary. We look forward to an even bigger turn out this week.
