West Waterford Athletic Club Juvenile Notes
Munster Athletics Star Award for Lucy Holmes
The Munster Athletics Star Awards were held in the Tower Hotel in Waterford on Saturday. A large group from West Waterford travelled to the event to support our two award winners. Lucy Holmes received a juvenile cross country star award and Joe Gough received an international award. The award was based on Lucy’s performances at Munster cross country events in 2019. Lucy had a very good cross country season winning the girls under 19 4000m and the junior women’s 4000m and finishing 2nd in the under 18 4000m at the Munster cross country championships. She also led Waterford County to gold medals in the inter county contest at both under 19 and junior and was also a scoring member of the Waterford team that finished 2nd in the under 18 race. The star award was a well deserved recognition for Lucy achievements over the winter. Well done to Lucy and her coach Tony Shalloe. Congratulations to Joe on his International Award and to the other Waterford winners Emily O’Mahony and Fintan Walsh who was inducted into the Hall of Fame. Fintan continues to be the voice of athletics in Waterford with his regular radio reports.
Irish LifeHealth East Munster Schools Cross Country
West Waterford athletes had a very good day at the East Munster schools cross
country which was held in ideal conditions on a tough course in Carriganore on Friday last. David Gaffney had a very good run in the junior boys finishing 3rd and was the first Waterford athlete home. David Nyhan put in a great last lap to finish 4th and with Darragh O’Regan in 14th they helped Dungarvan CBS to the minor boys title. Daniel Coonan and Matti Mullaney were members of the St Augustine’s team that finished 3rd.
In the junior boys race Cal Tutty 5th and Ian Holmes 10th put in good individual performances to qualify for the Munster Championships. Tadhg O’Sullivan and David Horgan were members of the St Augustines team that finished third. In the junior girls race Angelina Chizhikova, Grainne Moore, Cathy Shanley and Fiona O’Riordan all helped St Augustines to the bronze medals.
Top West Waterford finisher on the day was Sarah Nyhan who continues to improve with every race winning the individual silver medal in the inter girls race and with Caoimhe Prendergast finishing 8th the Ard Scoil took the silver medals. Mark Blackwell was the only competitor from Meanscoil san Niochlas and he booked his place in the Munster championships when he finished 15th in the inter boys race.
In the senior girls race Lucy Holmes won the individual bronze and she was well supported by Mary Kate Prendergast 12th and Elia Tutty 15th and these three combined to win the bronze medals for Ard Scoil. In the final race of the day Oisin ORiordan ensured CBS would be once again on the podium with a third place finish in the senior boys race.
All these young athletes will be in action again on Thursday Feb 13th at the IrishLifeHealth Munster Cross Country Championships.
A big thank you to the officials from West Waterford and Waterford who helped to run the event so efficiently.
