Juvenile News 25 November 2019

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 Fennell6.28
Rory Fennell6.48
Ian Holmes6.57
Mark Blackwell6.57
David Gaffney7.00
Cal Tutty7.05
Darragh O Regan7.09
Eoin Bueneventura7.17
Lucy Holmes7.17
Liam Broderick7.21
Sarah Nyhan7.22
Eoin Prendergast7.25
Conor Keane7.43
Ben Qualter7.52
Sarah Gaffney8.01
Cormac Doheny8.05
Fia De Paor8.11
Owen Morrissey8.12
Leah Harty8.16
Angelina Chizhikova8.16
Isabelle Gaffney8.25
Kaelan Barry8.27
Grainne Moore8.30
Claudia O Halloran8.31
Mary Kate Prendergast8.31
Kate Killigrew8.39
Sean Nyhan8.44
Callum Curran8.50
Lia Cunningham8.56
Aoife O Donovan9.00
Aoife Lattimore9.05
Rory Donnolly9.08
Cillian Towey9.16
Amy Flavin9.18
Fiona O Riordan9.26
Tom Murphy9.29
Ali Cunningham9.29
Sarah O Riordan9.30
Cathy Shanley9.32
Conor Mc Carthy9.33
Aodhan O Rahallaigh9.37
Dara Byrne9.39
Cormac O Regan9.41
Anna Murphy9.52
Laoise Cummins9.53
Emma Curran9.58
Crea Frisby10.03
Patrick Mullaney10.04
Maria Curran10.35
Kate Murphy10.41
Mattie Mullaney11.00
Fionnan Lonergan11.48

 

Short Lap 
Charile Curran4.09
Aoife Bueneventura4.34
Fergus Donnelly4.40
Clodagh Lattimore4.41
Luisne De Paor4.42
Ciara Flavin4.54
Rhiona Towey5.10
Abbie Casey5.20

 

 

 

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.

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