The idyllic setting of Mountainview, Ballyhale provided the backdrop for Day 1 of the Leinster Juvenile Even Ages, U20 & Novice Cross Country Championships. Set upon the hills overlooking Ballyhale, underfoot conditions were remarkably good given the amount of water that fell in throughout the week. St Abbans had large numbers competing with teams in Girls and Boys U12, Girls U14, Boys U16 and Novice ladies. There were a number of excellent performances throughout the day with athletes battling pace for pace with their competitors the whole way around the hilly course. The day got off to a great start with Ava Brophy and Penelope McMahon finishing 3rd and 5th in the U10 non-championship event. Following on from this, Sinead Fitzpatrick ran a fantastic race to take victory in the Girls U.12. Ellie Knowles also ran a great race finishing just outside the individual medals in 14th place. Roisin Kearney 76th, Abigail Daly 79th, Isabelle Roberts 99th and Anna Kennedy 103rd all gave everything for the team which finished 10th Club and 6th County when the scores were added together.
In the Boys U.12, Eoin Dowling led the team home in 7th place, John Conway was close behind in 12th. Both boys claimed individual medals and with the help of Shane Kelly in 14th and Daire Sullivan in 17th the boys finished 2nd Club team. They missed out on 1st by the smallest of margins, just 1 point. Cathal English finished 28th, Harry Brennan 29th Rory O’Doherty 38th and Paudi Morrin 50th. The boys also claimed a silver County medal and the team will progress to the National Championships in 4 weeks’ time. In the Girls U14 3000m Laura Aryes made a welcome return to racing when finishing an excellent 3rd place. Katie Hartnett was next home in 23rd, Zoe Dunne followed in 27th and Leah Dunphy completed the team in 32nd place. This saw the girls win silver medals in the club competition, but go one better to take gold County medals for Laois. Cara English was our sole competitor in the Girls U16, finishing in 19th place after the 4000m. Will Duffy ran a very brave race in the Boys U.16, where he tracked the leaders from the beginning to take 4th place and win an individual medal for himself. Kalem Buggy 37th, James Hyland 49th and Shane Stynes 69th completed the team and saw the lads take both 6th Club and County. The Boys U18 and Junior Men’s race were ran together over 5000m. Jack Fenlon set the pace along with athletes from KCH and St Senan’s. At 1k to go the KCH athlete put in a big surge for home and managed to separate himself from the group. Jack finished in 3rd place on his first cross country outing this year. In the same race, Finn Craig ran strongly throughout to finish 6th in the Boys U.18 event. Billy Rambsbottom came home in 60th position. Both club and county teams finished just outside the medals in 4th place. In the penultimate event of the day the Novice ladies team finished 7th Club and 5th County. Niamh Quinn led the team home in 14th place, Siobhan Burke was next in 27th, Muireann O Sullivan was 42nd and the team was completed by Aileen Lynch in 59th place. Well done to each of these athletes who represented the club so successfully today. Many thanks to all of their paets and coaches who continue to prepare the athletes for these big occasions.