Day 2 of the Leinster Juvenile Uneven Ages, U23 & Senior Cross Country Championships were held in Cow Park, Dunboyne on Saturday last. The club had a large crowd who travelled to Dunboyne with the hope of progressing through to the National Championships in one month’s time. Conditions in the early part of the day were reasonably good underfoot, but with some rain and plenty of athletes around the course, it did become a little trickier for the latter races.

The action got underway with the Girls U9 Non-championships event. Ava Brophy led the field home in 1st while Maebh Kearney followed close behind in 4th. Next up for the club was the

Girls U11 who had a 1500m loop to complete. Our two competitors in this event Roisin Kearney, finished in 52nd place with Isabelle Brophy was 89th.
In the Boys U11 1500m, Daire O'Sulivan ran a superb race to lead the team home in 5th. Edward McDonald just missed out on the individual medals when finishing in 14th. Liam Doyle was 19th, Páidí Murin 54th, Callum Kenny 62nd, Joseph Lawler 72nd, Conor Kennedy 105th and Oran McCarthy 107th. When the team scores were added together the boy’s team finished 3rd Club and 7th County overall which will see them progress to the National Championships in Navan in 4 weeks’ time.

The Girls U13 race was staged over 2500m. Laura Ayres continued her progress this season when finishing in 4th and the team packed very well behind her with Laura Malone 15th, Zoe Dunne 20th, Leah Dunphy 28th, Ellie Knowles 29th and Mollie Kelly in 63rd. This saw the girl’s team take the Leinster title and finish 2nd County behind Meath.  

The Boys U13 were next over the same 2500m distance. With many of these athletes moving up in age group they battled hard throughout. Eoin Dowling led the boy’s home in 17th, Shane Kelly was next for the club in 45th, Cathal English was close behind in 53rd and Harry Brennan completed the team in 65th place. The team finished in 9th place when the scores were added together.
The Girls U15 ran a superb race over 3500m, with each of the girls packing close together and running a brilliant team race to take the Leinster title. Katie Harnett ran brilliantly to lead the team home in 12th, Chelsey Dooley tracked her the whole way for 14th, Cara English was just behind in 15th and Ciara Milton’s 18th place saw them take home gold medals by the very small margin of 3 points from the host club Dunboyne AC. The County team finished in 6th place overall.

Will Duffy continued his fine form in the Boys U15 race where he once again went with the lead pack and finished in 2nd place after the 3500m course was completed. Kalem Buggy was next home in 23rd and Eoghan Mitchell completed the St Abbans athletes in 64th place. The lads all scored on the county team which finished just outside the medals in 4th place.
In the Boys U17, Finn Craig had to settle for 9th place after 4500m. John Delaney finished 13th after a tight sprint finish, James Hyland was 37th and Shane Stynes completed the team in 57th place. Both club and county finished in 5th place overall.
Our final athlete in action was Will Fox in the Senior/U23 Men’s race. Conditions were less favourable as this stage of the day, nonetheless, Will ran a string race to finish in 14th overall and 2nd U23. This was a promising start to Will’s Cross Country season having recently returned from a stint at altitude training.