Juvenile News 21 November 2022

 

Great Running by West Waterford Athletes at National Cross Country Championships

It was a fantastic day at the National Championships in Rossapenna Co Donegal last Sunday. The course was in tip top shape running over the sands hills of the links golf course it was dry underfoot with some testing pulls on it. The scenery was fabulous and the weather even obliged with only one shower during the day. With athletes having to qualify through their Provincial championships to take part the standard was very high across all the age groups and there was some superb racing on show. Everything was well organised by the local community to ensure the smooth running of the races the only downside was the distance to the very north of Donegal. Leaving at 3.15 on Sunday our tired group of athletes landed back in Dungarvan @11.45 after a very successful weekend. Well done to all our athletes who competed so well, their parents and coaches and officials from West Waterford who made the long trek north.

 

Individual Medal for Noah Commin

The highlight of the day for the club was Noah Commins 8th place finish in the boys under 14 race. This is Noah’s first full cross country season and he has improved with every race. He finished 2nd in the Munster Championships to qualify for last Sunday’s race. There was a big field and in the jostling for places Noah was tripped up at the start but he was soon back on his feet and running. At the end of the first short lap he was in 25th place as they made their way out on the hilly long lap for the first time he moved up to 18th and second time round her was in 11th. He put in a great run over the final 600m and moved into 8th place for his first All Ireland Individual Cross Country medal. Noah was also the second scoring member of the Munster team that finished 2nd in the inter provincial contest and so came home with a silver and bronze medal.

 

 

Munster Gold for Isabelle Gaffney

Having missed a lot of last season Isabelle Gaffney is coming back into form at the right time. All five of our under 14 girls were running out of age and it was a great achievement for them to qualify out of a tough Munster competition and reach the All Ireland. They were led home by Isabelle Gaffney who really rose to the occasion coming with a great burst of speed over the final half lap to move into 13th place just one place off an individual medal. Isabella was the sixth scorer on a very strong Munster team that won gold in the inter provincial race. This was a huge improvement on her 11th place finish in the Munster Championships last month. Sophie Beresford and Ellen Power were both competing in their first All Ireland and both made it in to the top 100 with Sophie finishing 86th and Ellen 93rd. Both scored on the Waterford team that finished 8th in the inter county competition. Ciara Flavin and Luisne de Paor also got their first taste of national competition as part of the Waterford team and finished 154th and 159th. Isabelle, Sophie, Ellen and Ciara will all compete in the All Ireland under 13 in two weeks time

 

Under 16 Girls team Rise to the Occasion

Also running out of their age group was our under 16 girls time who were all under 15 but qualified for the All Ireland by finishing as third club in Munster. On Sunday they upped the ante finishing 7th club over all but were the top Munster club beating both West Muskerry and Ennis Track. First home was Sarah Gaffney in 24th place. Sarah was the fourth Munster girl home a big improvement on her 8th place in Munster. She was followed home by her great friend and training partner Fia de Paor in 46th.  Aoife O’Donovan ran strongly in the middle of the pack and came home 84th. Ami O’Riordan battled all the way to finish 103rd and Sarah O’Riordan who had her best cross country run this season finished 105th with the final member of the team Lauren Cliffe in 112th. The girls were also scoring members of the county team that finished 9th. All the girls will be in action in the under 15 race in Conna on Dec 4th.

Top 20 Finish for Naoise MacMhurchadha

Naoise was our final competitor of the day as he tookm to the start line in the boys under 16 race. Naoise has been more focussed on his cross country running this winter and you could see it i9n his performance on Sunday. Lying in the top 30 after the first lap he made his way through the field to finish 18th, his best performance in an All Ireland to date. Naoise was agonisingly close to a medal as the sixth scorer on a very strong Munster team was in 16th place just two ahead of him. Naoise will compete on the Munster under 17th in Conna on Dec 4th 

  

 One week left in Tony’s  Winter League

Next Wednesday Nov 23rd will be the last chance to score points for your team in our Winter League Sponsored by Elverys InterSport. Rory Donnolly’s team continues to lead the field but it is very close for 2nd, 3rd and 4th so it is all to run for next Wed.

Once again last week we had some very good performances in the League. We now have three athletes under 7mins. Noah Commins leads the field and his time is now down to 6m24. Isabelle Gaffney is the leading girl and her time of 6.58 earns her a place on the top ten times for girls.  She shares 10th place with Caoimhe Dwyer. The third athlete under 7mins is Oisin Whelan with a best time of 6m.55.

Three athles went under 8mins for the first time Olan Devereaux (7.50), Mario  Zakis (7.56) and Anna Rochford (7.59)

Conor McCarthy (8.15) has knocked 30 secs off his starting time

Just two athletes have managed to improve their time every week Sarah O’Riordan and Eoghan Kenny. Sarah has taken over half a minute off her starting time, while Eoghan has improved his time by over a minute.

Seventeen  more athletes ran their fastest time to date last Wednesday

Jarlath Hurney, Mark McLoughlin, Shannon Radley, Sophie Beresford, Ruth Walsh, Loughlann Hurney, Alicia Radley, Grace Hodge, Clodagh Lattimore, Ava Kiely, Katie Mai Daly, Faye McGrtath, Natalie Barry, Nathan Butler, Caoimhe Houlihan, Feidhlim Harty and Jess Collins.

On the short lap Rian Flavin recorded the fastest time ahead of Evan Radley and Elin Qualter was the fastest girl just ahead of Eile de Paor.  Elin Qualter, Eadaoin Houlihan,Rex Radley and LeonPhelan recorded their fastest times to date.

 

Final run of the Elverys InterSport League and Presentation of Prizes on Wed 30th Nov

The final run of the league will be on Wed Nov 30th. This will be a reverse run with everyone going off at their fastest time with the fastest athletes off last. If everyone runs to form we should have a huge group finishing at the same time.

The presentation of prizes will take place @5.15 and we encourage all parents to attend the presentation

The Powersfield Cup will be presented to the winning captain and we will have over 800euro in prizes to distribute made up from Sponsorship from Elverys Inter Sport and West Waterford Juvenile AC and all the 2eoru entry fees that were collected during the League. We look forward to seeing you all at the presentation.

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