West Waterford Athletic Club Juvenile Notes
Success for West Waterford Athletes at Day 1 of the All Ireland Cross Country Championships
The first day of the Irish Life Health All Ireland Championships proved to be a happy stomping ground for West Waterford’s young athletes. Abbottstown proved to be an ideal location with a wide open start and the underfoot conditions were not too bad considering the rain that fell during the week. They came from all four corners of Ireland to compete at the premier meet of the year. All the athletes competing in Sundays All Ireland had to qualify through their provincial championships so only the top clubs and counties from each region were in action. WWAC were delighted to have 28 athletes qualified to compete across the four age groups and they showed that they can compete with the best in the country. It was an early start for our athletes as the bus left the Park Hotel at 7pm. With a short stop en route we were in Abbottstown before 10am. The singlets numbers and spikes were put on the course walked, the numbers chipped and the warm up done all ready for the first race at 11.30pm.
Individual Medal for Sarah Gaffney
The first race of the day was the girls under 12 2000m where almost two hundred athletes took to the start. Sarah Gaffney was up in the top 30th in the early half of the race but moved steadily up the field and was in the top twelve as the start of the long run in to the finish but she sprinted up the final 150m to come home in 5th place and was the leading athlete on the Munster team that finished second. Most of the rest of the team were running in their first All Ireland and will benefit from the experience. Fia de Paor was next home in 75th place with Aoife O’Donovan improving fifteen places from last year to finish 115th . Next home for West Waterford was Aoife Lattimore in 120th , Laoise Cummins 138th , Ami Flavin 147th and Sarah O’Riordan 168th. The West Waterford team finished in 8th place of the nineteen teams competing.
The boys under 12 team also finished in 8th place with all of the boys improving on their under 11 places from last year. Liam Broderick was first home in 29th place sixteen places up from last year and finishing in the top thirty for the first time. Eoin Prendergast improved by seventeen places to finish 31st. Conor Keane made it into the top one hundred improving thirty eight places from last year and Owen Morrissey improved six places to finish 125th. Both Kaelan Barry 163rd and Cormac O;Regan 170th were competing in their first All Ireland.
Bronze for West Waterford Boys under 14 team
With Eoghna Lattimore out injured and Ian Holmes out sick our under 14 boys team were reduced to just four athletes so it was a tough ask for them to get among the medals but they rose to the occasion and finished third in the inter club contest just two points ahead of Clonliffe Harriers in 4th place. David Gaffney led the team home with a good individual performance to finish 23rd . Cal Tutty ran strongly throughout the race and finished 43rd. Darragh o’Regan made a huge improvement from last year finishing 55th well up on his 88th place last year. It all came down to our final athlete Ben Qualter who was running a year out of his age. Even on the last hill Ben was still giving his all passing two athletes on the steep hill to finish 131st seven places up on last year and ensure the bronze medals for the team. David Gaffney was a scoring member of the Munster team that finished 2nd.
Fiona O’Riordan was our only representative in the under 14 girls. Competing with the Waterford under 14 team Fiona finished in 157th place.
West Waterford’s Sarah Nyhan scores on the Munster Team
Next in action were the under 16 girls team and they also finished in 8th place. Star of the team was Sarah Nyhan who finished in 26th place and was a scoring member of the Munster team that finished in third place. This was the first time that Sarah was a scoring member of the Munster team. Recovering from a recent illness Caoimhe Prendergast was not in her best form and finished 66th. There was very little between the Cunningham sisters with Alli first home in 80th followed by Lia in 89th. Next home was Angelina Chizhikova in 102nd followed by Cathy Ni Sheanlaoich in 115th.
Double Gold for Lucy Holmes
The girls under 18 was run in conjunction with the Junior Women’s race and the juniors set a really fast pace and in the soft conditions it proved to be a tough race overall. Lucy Holmes finished in 6th place in the under 18 race winning another individual medal and helped Munster to the gold medals in the inter regional contest. Lucy was also a scoring member of the Waterford team that took gold in the junior women’s inter county contest.
Mary Kate Prendergast was also competing on the Waterford team and finished 79th.
Oisin O’Riordan was our only competitor in the under 18 boys race and her put in a very strong last 800m to finish 45th. His brother Cian was competing in the junior race where he finished 65th.
At the end of a long day we headed back to the Newpark in Kilkenny for our now traditional post All Ireland dinner. The athletes and parents were well fed the medals presented and the coaches thanked and all returned home happy and safely to Dungarvan.
Munster B Championships in Two Mile Borris on Sunday Next
The final Munster Cross Country is on Sunday next and we have a small group of athletes entered.
Under 9 Clodagh Lattimore, Amy O’Riordan, Aimee Barry
Peter Ahearne
Under 11 Sarah Murray, Maria Curran, Rhiona Towey,
Cillian Towey
Under 15 Fiona O’Riordan
Under 17 Oisin O’Riordan
Under 19 Cian O’Riordan
If any other athlete wishes to compete please let mary Ashe know as soon as possible. Entries close on Wed night.
Elverys Intersport Winter League Concludes
After six very successful weeks of running the Elverys Intersport Juvenile Winter League will conclude on Wednesday next with the running of the handicap race when all athletes will run off their fastest times with prizes for the first two athletes across the line, so there is still a chance to win a prize ! The standard in the league has been very high this year with many athletes recording personal best times and Lucy Holmes breaking the girls course record
The heavy downpours did their best to interrupt proceedings last Wednesday despite it being a miserable day 60 hardy athletes turned up to compete. The winning teams will be announced next Wednesday. When all athletes have completed the course we will have the prize giving in the hall. The Power Family Cup will be presented to the captain of the winning team.
Below are the times recorded for all athletes on Wednesday 20th November.
Full Lap | |
Tommy Fennell | 6.28 |
Rory Fennell | 6.48 |
Ian Holmes | 6.57 |
Mark Blackwell | 6.57 |
David Gaffney | 7.00 |
Cal Tutty | 7.05 |
Darragh O Regan | 7.09 |
Eoin Bueneventura | 7.17 |
Lucy Holmes | 7.17 |
Liam Broderick | 7.21 |
Sarah Nyhan | 7.22 |
Eoin Prendergast | 7.25 |
Conor Keane | 7.43 |
Ben Qualter | 7.52 |
Sarah Gaffney | 8.01 |
Cormac Doheny | 8.05 |
Fia De Paor | 8.11 |
Owen Morrissey | 8.12 |
Leah Harty | 8.16 |
Angelina Chizhikova | 8.16 |
Isabelle Gaffney | 8.25 |
Kaelan Barry | 8.27 |
Grainne Moore | 8.30 |
Claudia O Halloran | 8.31 |
Mary Kate Prendergast | 8.31 |
Kate Killigrew | 8.39 |
Sean Nyhan | 8.44 |
Callum Curran | 8.50 |
Lia Cunningham | 8.56 |
Aoife O Donovan | 9.00 |
Aoife Lattimore | 9.05 |
Rory Donnolly | 9.08 |
Cillian Towey | 9.16 |
Amy Flavin | 9.18 |
Fiona O Riordan | 9.26 |
Tom Murphy | 9.29 |
Ali Cunningham | 9.29 |
Sarah O Riordan | 9.30 |
Cathy Shanley | 9.32 |
Conor Mc Carthy | 9.33 |
Aodhan O Rahallaigh | 9.37 |
Dara Byrne | 9.39 |
Cormac O Regan | 9.41 |
Anna Murphy | 9.52 |
Laoise Cummins | 9.53 |
Emma Curran | 9.58 |
Crea Frisby | 10.03 |
Patrick Mullaney | 10.04 |
Maria Curran | 10.35 |
Kate Murphy | 10.41 |
Mattie Mullaney | 11.00 |
Fionnan Lonergan | 11.48 |
Short Lap | |
Charile Curran | 4.09 |
Aoife Bueneventura | 4.34 |
Fergus Donnelly | 4.40 |
Clodagh Lattimore | 4.41 |
Luisne De Paor | 4.42 |
Ciara Flavin | 4.54 |
Rhiona Towey | 5.10 |
Abbie Casey | 5.20 |
Training Finishes on Wednesday
Wed next will be the last training day for most of our athletes. Those who have qualified for the All Ireland will continue training on Friday and for the next few weeks until the final championship on Dec 15th.