A Great Day for West Waterford Athletes at Day I of the Munster Cross Country Championships
Day 1 of the Munster Cross Country Championships took place in ideal conditions at Two Mile Borris in Co Tipperary on Sunday Oct 5th. There were very large fields in all the races with the biggest in the under 10 girls where 190 competed. The course was tough and a good test of cross country running with lots of uphill sections and competition was keen in all the races. Thirty five athletes from WWAC competed representing their club and county and it was the girls who fared best on the day bringing home the lion’s share of the medals.
Individual Medals for Fia and William
William McNally proved to be the best boy on the day. Over the 4000m course he stayed with the pace throughout the race to come home in 7th place and win the clubs first individual medal of the day in the boys under 16 race. William also helped the county to the silver medals in the team race. In the girls under 18 which was run in conjunction with the under 20 race Fia de Paor also ran strongly to finish in 11th place and win her individual medal. Fia was a scoring member of the Waterford under 18 team that finished second and the under 20 team that finished third. In the same race Sarah O’Riordan just missed a county medal finishing 38th with Jessica Grigor not far behind in 41st.
County Medals for Etain, Rachel, Maddi and Natalie
Running out of age Etain Ni Mhurchadha had a great run in the under 12 race finishing 47th and was one of the top six Waterford athletes scoring on the county team that finished 3rd. This was a much improved run from her 8th place in the county championships. Kenzie Connors also completed the 2000m course finishing 112th. In the under 14 girls 3000m Rachel Keogh and Maddi Connors continued the good form they showed in the recent county championships. Finishing 41st and 43rd they were the third and fourth scoring athletes on the Waterford team that finished 3rdand Eilé de Paor finished in 96th place. In the girls under 16 race over 4000m Natalie Barry had a much improved performance to finish 39th and score on the Waterford team that finished 3rd. Next home was Suin Cunningham 44th, Saoirse Kinsella 53rd Ava Ryan 61st and Sheelagh Curran 71st.
Club Bronze for under 10 Girls
Competing in their first Munster cross country championships WWAC girls and boys were not fazed by the big fields and put in some great performances with the girls taking the bronze medals in the inter club contest. Sibeal Curran led the team home in 16th place with a much improved Ayla Hogan next in 32nd, Ciara Kenny got up to finish 45th and newcomer Aisling Ni Treasaigh 54th took the fourth scoring place. They were backed up by Sadie Burke 65th , Aoibhinn Hogan 104th , Saoirse Keohan 123rd and Natalie Barry 159th. Sibeal was the first Waterford girl home and led the county team to bronze medals with Ayla Hogan also scoring on the county team. Big cheers from the girls , their coaches and parents followed the announcement of the results.
In the boys under 10 race Tiarnach Costin was the first WWAC athlete across the line in 34th place followed by Ché O’hArtaigh in 38th, Eoghan Breathnach 58th, Lachlann Murray 60th, Seadhna O’Tuathaigh 66th, Caleb Roche 98th and Cian O’Callaghan 100th. The county team finished 4th and the club team 6th.
In the under 12 boys race Daniel Curran was first home in 40th, Shay O’Connell 80th, Joey Ryan 96th and Billy O’Riordan 114th.
Tiarnan Hogna led the way home in the boys under 14 3000m finishing 42nd with Colm O’Muiri 60th and Liam Hogan 79th.
Etain, Rache, Maddi, Natalie, William, Fia, Sarah and Jessica have all qualified to compete in the All Ireland Championships in Derry on Sunday Nov 23rd.
Well done to all our athletes who competed, the parents who supported them on the day and thanks to all the club officials who worked on the day who ensured all our athletes arrived on the start line warmed up and ready to race.
Day 2 of the Munster Championships will again take place in Two Mile Borris on Sunday 2nd of November and I will be doing those entries this weekend.
InterSport Elverys Sponsor Tony’s League
We had another big turnout for our winter league last Wednesday with over eighty athletes taking part. The whole focus of the league is on improving your own time each week and contributing to the overall score of your team. This week over forty of our young athletes improved on their times of the week before twenty on the big lap and twenty on the small lap. The biggest improvement on the small lap was from Finn Brennan who dropped his time by 44secs. Lachlann Murray went under 4mins for the first time and Caleb Roche and Ciara Kenny improved by 19secs. In the big lap Daniel Curran had a much better run to knock more than two minutes off his time. Eoghan Kenny, Etain Ni Mhurchadha , Blaithin Egan and Sheelagh Curran all improved by over a minute. Aaron Connor went under 8mins for the first time.
Next Wednesday Oct 22nd the team race gets underway. We have ten teams in all and the captains are Tiernan Hogan, Aadi Paniker, Aaron Connor, Colm O’Muiri, Maddi Connors, Natalie Barry, David Dempsey, Daniel Curran, Saoirse Kinsella, Jamie Kiely. We look forward to some great racing on Wednesday.
