Meath Cross Country Championships - Novice, Master and Even-ages - Stamullen - Sunday 6th October “The first of the Meath Cross country championships brought us back to Greenanstown, Stamullen where the even – age, Novice and masters championships were held as we managed to get 39 competitors from age 8 to age 54 on the line to be precise and it was the youngest of this crew that were first off as Molly O’Connor in 10th place led our under 10 team of Rosin and Aisling O’Connor, Ella Moyles, Hilliary Larkin and Niamh McEntee to 4th team. The boys under 10 race over 1,000 metres saw Charlie O’Connor racing further than ever before but it didn’t hold him back as he claimed his 2nd win at the same course in 2 weeks and led a squad of Ben Foley, Sean Summerville, Jack Smith, Nevin Power and Rory Manek to 4th place in the team event also. Meadbh Byrne was next off in the under 12 race over 2,000 metres and she finished strongly for 6th place and also a place on the Meath team for the Leinsters. Sean O’Connor filled a similar placing in the boys under 12 over 2,000 metres and he also will be on a strong Meath team for Dunboyne. Petra Reilly had a busy weekend playing 3 football matches yesterday but still finished 4th in a very high quality Girls under 14 race over 2,500 metres with Ava O’Brien and Ciara Galvin battling well also to finish inside the top 15. Evan Butler ran his best race ever to place 2nd in the boys under 14 over 2,500 metres with Luke Mitchell and Thomas Reilly running (and talking) step for step to finish joint 4th and the lads placed 2nd in the team event. Paddy Maher did most of the work in the under 16 race over 3,000 metres but had to give 2nd best to the fastest Hunter on display on the day – Well done Alex. The ladies race over 4,000 metres combined the under 18’s, Novice and Masters as Ursula Byrne continues to defy the years as she placed 3rd overall and with back up from Ann Hunter and Sonya Foley the girls were 2nd in the masters team event. Aine Brennan ran a fine race in the Novice section and she will benefit from the tough workout. The last race of the day was the mens combined under 18, Novice and Masters over 6,000 metres and it attracted a big and the best quality field on display from some years. Thomas Moran is slowly getting back to form after a fantastic 2012 year and he pushed out the pace as the cream of young Meath distance runners fought out a great race for individual honours and it was only on the last hill of the 4th and final lap with 600 metres to go that he opened up a gap of 30 metres which he extended to the finish for a very fine victory to repeat a feat his Dad accomplished 33 years ago. The battle for Novice team honours developed into an absorbing battle between ourselves and Dunboyne with every position fought for to the line as the team of Thomas, Shane Boyle, Ciaran O’Dwyer and Mick Summerville finished in the medals subject to official results being published and Gavin Maher was unofficially 4th in the under 18 category. The masters team over 35 of Tommy Maher, Derek Hunter, Larry Smith, Noel Larkin, Declan Butler and Ger Power and the masters team over 50 of Paddy Mangan, Benny Byrne and Mick O’Brien also medalled also subject to publication of results. Well done all – Intermediate and un-even ages are on next Sunday 13th November at Frayne Athboy with a 12 noon start”. Results will be published on Meath athletics website during week. Malahide 5km Parkrun – Saturday 5th October “Barbara Larkin and Ger Reilly are seen out on the streets late at night a lot lately and their hard work seems to be paying off as they both travelled to Malahide park to take part in the 5km parkrun where Barbara clocked 29.33 and Ger 31.58. – Well done Girls!
Posted on: Sun, 06 Oct 2013 17:57:01 +0000