WOW What a Day for West Waterford Athletes at Day 1 of the Munster X Country Championships
It was a busy but successful day for West Waterford athletes on Day 1 of the Munster Cross Country Championships. Limerick Racecourse was the venue for the championships for boys and girls under10,12,14,16 and 18. West Waterford had forty six athletes competing and they brought home a Munster individual title thirteen individual medals in all a Munster club title and four other sets of team medals as well as scoring on all nine Waterford teams that finished in the top three in the inter county contest to round off one of our most successful days at a Munster Championship.
First Munster Title for Isabelle Gaffney
Isabelle Gaffney got us off to a winning start going one better than last year to take her first individual Munster title and also leading Waterford to the bronze medals in the inter county contest. Individual wins at Munster Cross Country don’t come along very often for a club so they should be savoured and celebrated. Well done Isabelle. Most of the rest of the team were competing in their first Munster Championships. Luisne de Paor finished 74th with Clodagh Lattimore 80th Aoife Buenaventura 89th Aimee Barry 94th and Amy O’Riordan 109th.
Bronze Medals for Boys under 10
The boys under 10 continued the winning ways taking third place in the inter club and county contest. Anthony O’Donnell was first home in 6th place adding another individual medal to the one he won last year. Nattanas Lunskis has made great strides since her joined the club a few weeks ago and was next home in 32nd place.
Both Anthony and Nattanas were scoring members of the Waterford team that won bronze. Cian Qualter in 56th was the third scoring member of the team and Conor McCarthy who was the youngest member of the team and was competing in his fist Munster cross country was next home in 67th. Rian Curran 74th and Patrick Mullaney 106th were also competing at their first Munster cross country and all six were happy to have bronze Munster club medals to bring home.
Big Improvements from the under 12 Girls and Boys to Win Club Bronze Medals
It took a big step up in performance from last year for the under 12 girls to get among the medals this year. The team contest got off to a great start when Sarah Gaffney 6th and Fia de Paor 8th won individual medals. This was the second year in a row Sarah won an individual medal but it was Fia’s first Munster medal. Aoife Lattimore was next home in 36th place forty place better than last year and Aoife O’Donovan the fourth scoring member of the team improved twenty places on last year to finish 51st. Sarah O’Riordan improved twenty five places to finish 65th with newcomer to the team Laoise Cummins next in 73rd and Ami Flavin over twenty places up on last year in 74th. The club team finished in third place as did the county with Sarah, Fia, Aoife Lattimore and Aoife O’Donovan all scoring on the county team.
The boys then stepped up for their race determined to do as well as the girls and they too all upped their performances from last year to get among the individual club and county medals. Liam Broderick was again among the individual medal winners improving from 7th last year to 4th this year. Eoin Prendergast was not far behind in 10th and this was the first time Eoin won an individual medal when running a year out of his age. Conor Keane improved forty places from last year to finish 31st and Owen Morrissey was twenty five places better than last year finishing 43rd. Cormac O’Regan 99th and Kaelan Barry 102nd were both competing in their first Munster championship. All six won bronze medals with the club team and Liam, Eoin, Conor and Owen all scored on the county team that finished in third place.
All seven girls and six boys have qualified for the All Ireland under 12 which will be held in Abbotstown on Sunday 24th November.
3 in a Row Club Titles for the Boys under 14
The boys under 14 had the best team performance of the day winning the under 14 title to add to the under 13 they won last year and the under 12 the previous year.
All five members of the team improved on their performance last year to ensure the team title. David Gaffney 4th, Cal Tutty 9th and Ian Holmes were all among the individual winners and Darragh O’Regan improved twenty four places to finish 28th with Ben Qualter also improving to finish 58th for an all round excellent team performance.
In the girls under 14 race Lia Harty was the top finisher for West Waterford coming home in 20th place and scoring on the Waterford team that finished 3rd. Claudia O’Halloran was the most improved athlete on the day jumping fifty places from last year to finish 44th. Claudia just missed out scoring on the county team by one place.
Fiona O’Riordan finished 69th with Hannah Power in 92nd place.
All five boys Lia and Claudia qualified to compete at the All Ireland Championships.
Silver for WWAC’s Girls under 16 Team
The under 16 girls were another group of our athletes who upped their performances from last year to make sure they were among the team medal winners. Sarah Nyhan had another good run to finish 6th and collect another individual medal she won in 11th place last year. Caoimhe Prendergast who missed out on the Munsters last year was next home in 16th place. A much improved Angelina Chizhikova had her best place finish in a Munster cross country race when she crossed the line in 19th place.
Ally Cunningham who missed out on the counties this year was next in 34th followed by her sister Lia in 49th. Cathy Ní Sheanlaoich improved fifteen places from last year to finish 59th. All six girls will now represent Munster at the All Ireland Championships.
Individual Medals for Tommy and Rory Fennell
Next in action in the boys under 16 race were Tommy and Rory Fennell in the boys under 16 race over 4000m. Both got out well and finished strongly to win individual medals with Tommy 5th and Rory 9th. Both were scoring members of the Waterford team that finished third in the inter county contest and will qualify with the Munster team for the All Ireland Championships.
Silver County Medals for under 18 Girls
Lucy Holmes and Mary Kate Prendergast helped Waterford to silver medals in the girls under 18 race. Lucy who won an individual silver medal was the second scorer on the team while Mary Kate in 22nd claimed the last scoring place.
In the final race of the day Conor Mullaney finished 14th and scored on the Waterford team. Mark Blackwell just missed out on a medal when he finished 29th and was the seventh Waterford athlete home. All four have qualified for the All Ireland Championships in Abbotstown.
Well done to all our athletes who competed last weekend you were a credit to yourselves your coaches and your club. We now have 32 athletes qualified for the upcoming All Ireland Championships.
Elverys Inter Sport Juvenile Winter League
Ninety five athletes competed in last weeks winter league sponsored by Elverys Inter Sport. Tommy Fennell recorded the fastest time on the day. Eoin Prendergast became one of the youngest athletes to go under 7mins with a time of 6.57. Mark Blackwell improved his time to 7.08 and finish in the top ten for the first time. In the short lap the top three Charlie Curran, Aoife Buenaventura and Ellen Power were under 4mins.
Below are the times recorded for all athletes on Wednesday 16th October
Full Lap
1 Tommy Fennell 6.29
2 Eoin Bueneventura 6.37
3 Pete Finnegan 6.39
4 Lucy Holmes 6.48
5 David Gaffney 6.49
6 Eoin Prendergast 6.57
7 Rory Fennell 7.01
8 Ian Holmes 7.05
9 Cal Tutty 7.07
10 Mark Blackwell 7.08
11 Sarah Nyhan 7.14
12 Darragh O Regan 7.22
13 Ben Qualter 7.28
14 Conor Keane 7.29
15 Caoimhe Prendergast 7.30
16 Isabelle Gaffney 7.36
17 Angelina Chizhikova 7.46
18 Anthony O Donnell 7.46
19 Liam Broderick 7.48
20 Kyla Flavin 7.57
21 Natannas Lunskis 7.57
22 Ali Cunningham 8.09
23 Elia Tutty 8.10
24 Owen Morrissey 8.10
25 Leah Harty 8.12
26 Mary Kate Prendergast 8.12
27 Aoife O Donovan 8.13
28 Lia Cunningham 8.23
29 Claudia O Halloran 8.28
30 Grainne Moore 8.31
31 Sarah Gaffney 8.31
32 Fia De Paor 8.32
33 Cillian Towey 8.34
34 Daniel Coonan 8.34
35 Kate Killigrew 8.35
36 Eve Power 8.38
37 Cathy Shanley 8.40
38 Archie Mattiuzzi 8.41
39 Cathal Mc Kenna 8.53
40 Kaelan Barry 8.56
41 Callum Curran 8.58
42 Catherine O Donnell 9.00
43 Mattie Mullaney 9.02
44 Anna Murphy 9.05
45 Aoife Lattimore 9.06
46 Fiona O Riordan 9.06
47 Sean Nyhan 9.07
48 Tom Murphy 9.10
49 Amy Flavin 9.12
50 Aodhan O Rahallaigh 9.13
51 Crea Frisby 9.13
52 Sarah Hallissey 9.15
53 Isabelle Mattiuzzi 9.19
54 Rory Donnolly 9.19
55 Anna Reddy 9.25
56 Hugo Noctor 9.25
57 Rian Curran 9.26
58 Grace Power 9.30
59 Cormac O Regan 9.31
60 Hannah Power 9.48
61 Ciara Mc Keown 9.49
62 Dara Byrne 9.49
63 Sarah O Riordan 9.54
64 Emma Curran 9.57
65 Euan O Huallachain 9.59
66 Laura Beresforrd 10.10
67 Conor Mc Carthy 10.12
68 Maria Curran 10.14
69 Meadhbh Doyle 10.23
70 Cian Qualter 10.33
71 Patrick Mullaney 10.37
72 Leah Wall 11.01
73 Iryna 11.35
74 Fionnan Lonergan 12.11
75 Amy Beresford 12.18
Short Lap
1 Charile Curran 3.49
2 Aoife Bueneventura 3.52
3 Elen Power 3.55
4 Lochlan Hurney 4.24
5 Clodagh Lattimore 4.25
6 Katie Hamblen 4.34
7 Shannon Radley 4.35
8 Luisne De Paor 4.37
9 Cameron Flavin 4.48
10 Fergus Donnelly 4.51
11 Aimee Barry 4.52
12 Ciara Flavin 4.53
13 Isabelle Hamblen 4.55
14 Rhiona Towey 5.21
15 Abbie Casey 5.27
16 Ciara Coffey 5.30
17 Amparo 6.03
18 Merce 6.09
19 Laura M 8.18
20 Lluc 8.18
