Individual County Title for William McNally and Mario Zakis
West Waterford had a great turn out for Day 1 of the County Cross Country Championships in Tramore on Sunday September 28th. The weather was crisp with very little wind, a welcome change from our last trip to Tramore. The course was challenging with a tough uphill section but all our athletes rose to the challenge.
With so many athletes competing we were able to field teams in almost all the age groups and start into Day 2 with a six point lead in the race for the Babs Connors Cup for the best overall Club.
William Mc Nally had a great run in the boys under 16 race taking the individual title. There was a great battle between West Waterford athletes Mario Zakis and Tiernan Hogan in the boys under 14 with Mario outsprinting Tiernan to take the title and Tiernan the silver.
Daniel Curran had his best race ever running with determination to take the individual silver in the boys under 12 race. Rachel Keogh 3rd in the under 14 race was the only girl to win an individual medal.
Gold and Bronze for Girls and Boys under 10 Teams
WWAC had very strong teams in both the girls and boys under 10 races with big numbers and strong performances from all our athletes they took both first and third teams in both the girls and boys races.
Best of the girls was Sibeal Curran 8th followed by Aisling Ní Treasaigh 9th, Ide Ni Lonáin 11th and Ciara Kenny 12th the scoring four. Sadie Burke, Rachel Curran, Mollai Ní Lonáinand Naoise Burke were one behind the other and all finished in the top twenty. Ayla Hogan, Emma O’Dea, Saoirse Keoghan, RoxanaNowakieivicz, Olivia Hurney, Anna Power and Aoibhinn Hogan finished in the top 30 with Kate Barry 37th and Eve Haughey 38.
Che O hArtaigh was first of the under 10 boys home in 5th place and with 5 athletes in the top ten WWAC easily captured the team title. Cian O’Callaghan 6th,Tiarnach Costin 7th, Lochlann Murray 8th and Deaghlan Breathnach 9th all ran well to ensure the team title came to West Waterford. Eoghan Breathnach 12th, Seadhna O’Tuathaigh13th, Conor Queally 14th , Caleb Roche 17th, Micheal Guiry 22nd and Joe Connors 26th all ensured they also won the bronze medals in the team event. A great result as many of these athletes were competing in their first race.
Silver for Boys and Bronze for Girls in under 12 Races
In the girls under 12 Etain Ní Mhurchadha moved up an age and had a very good run to take 8th place. Kenzie Connors sprinted home for 17th and newcomers Maebh Guiry 22nd and Alissa Huaghey 24th completed the course to ensure West Waterford claimed the bronze team medals. In the boys race Daniel Curran finished 2nd a big improvement on his 10th place last year. Newcomer Shay Connell was next in 4th place. Any Zakis moved up an age to finish 10th just ahead of Joey Ryan 11th and Billy O’Riordan 13th. In the team race the team finished 2nd.
Gold for under 14 Boys and Bronze for under 14 Girls
In the girls under 14 3000m Rachel Keogh came home 3rd to claim the individual bronze medal and Maddi Connors was just behind her in 4th. This was a big step up from their 9th and 10th places last year. Eabha Broderick finished 12th and in their first race Rebecca Doyle finished 21st one place ahead of Erica Haughey. The team finished third. The boys under 14 upgraded last year’s silver to gold this year with the individual title for Mario Zakis and silver for Tiernan Hogan they were well supported by Col O’Muiri 6th and Liam Hogan 11th.
County Title for under 16 Girls Team
Bronze last year under 15 turned to gold under 16 this year for our girl’s team. Siún Cunningham led the way home in 8th place followed by Natalie Barry in 9th, Ava Ryan 10th , Saoirse Kinsella 11th and Sheelagh Curran 15th. William Mc Nally was a convincing winner of the boys under 16 race and Aaron Connors competing in his first county championships finished 10th.
In the under 18 girls race we had just two competitors with Sarah O’Riordan finishing 5th and Jessica Grigor 7th.
Intersport Elverys to Sponser Tony’s League
WWAC juvenile committee are delighted to once again welcome Intersport Elverys as sponsor of Tony’s League. This is the highlight of our winter training programme. The league will run over the next 8 weeks with a break in the middle for the schools mid term. It all starts on Wednesday next Oct 8th with the first of two trial runs over the distance 1000m for under 9 and 10 athletes 2000m for under 11 upwards. There will be another trial run on Oct 15th and you must run in at least one of these trials to be on a team for the rest of the league. The team races will begin on Oct 22nd.
Change of Venue for Munster Cross Country
The Munster cross country championships under 10,12,14,16 and 18 will now take place in Two Mile Borris Couty Tipperary. The following athletes have been entered.
Under 10 girls Sibeal Curran, Ciara Kenny, Sadie Burke, Kate Barry, Aisling Ní Treasaigh, Rachel Curran, Ayla Hogan, Aoibhinn Hogan
Under 10 boys Seadhna O’Tuathaigh, Tiarnach Costin, Eoghan Breathnach, Che O h Artaigh, Lochlann Murray, Cian O’Callaghan, Caleb Roche.
Under 12 girls Etain Ní Mhurchadha, Kenzie Connors, Eile de Paor
Under 12 boys Daniel Curran, Billy O’Riordan, Joey Ryan
Under 14 girls Maddie Connors, Rachel Keogh
Under 14 boys Tiernan Hogna, Colm O’Muiri, Liam Hogan
Undewr 16 girls Siún Cunningham, Natalie Barry, Saoirse Kinsella, Ava Ryan, Sheelagh Curran, Amy Ryan
Under 16 boys William McNally
Under 18 girls Sarah O’Riordan, Jessics Grigor, Fia de Paor, Aoibhinn Ryan
The juvenile committee extend their sympathies to Rachel and Patrick Curran on the recent passing of their grandfather Eddie Curran. May he rest in peace.
