Sunday, November 10, 2019

HISTORIC TEAM GOLD FOR U13 BOYS

SUPERB RUN FOR CLARA DOHERTY IN U13 GIRLS RACE

Congratulations to our small but hardy band of athletes who made the journey to Ballina for a superbly organised Connacht Uneven Ages Cross-country at the Belleek Park - they may have been small in number but they were mighty in performance!

Leading the way was a superb team gold medal for our U13 Boys team who were crowned Connacht Champions with a great display. Declan Kennedy again led the team home in third place, showing great racing skills to ensure he got the individual bronze while his brother Patrick put in a great showing to finish seventh overall.

Close behind and defying his lack of racing, Cathal Enright literally ran himself into the ground to finish ninth, his first time in the top ten. Behind him, both Riaghan Guckian and Oran Butler made conservative starts but started coming through the field at pace, Riaghan eventually finishing 26th with Oran a matter of paces behind in 34th place.

With such a brilliant display, Carrick claimed gold in the team race with 46 points ahead of Tuam with 66 and hosts Moy Valley. Even better for Declan, Patrick, Cathal and Riaghan were in Leitrim's scoring six who took third in the inter-county race. Well done guys on a superb performance and great running for the team.

Clara Doherty followed up her 13th place from the U14 race with a brilliant sixth in her own age group, the U13 Girls. Clara hung back off the pace but showed great pace judgement to come through at pace and she held off a succession of runners, showing some brilliant in-built racing smarts, to take sixth and a place at the All-Irelands. A brilliant run for a girl in her first year at cross-country.


We had an international flavour in the U17 Boys when our Belgian import Justin CornĂ©lis ran his first ever cross-country race in a pair of football boots but still managed to finished 13th, just one place off the Connacht team. It was a superb run from Justin who has really made himself part of his group during his team here with us in Carrick-on-Shannon.

Brendan Kennedy finished a good 21st in the U15 Boys race while Hugh McGovern was fourth scorer on the Leitrim team as he finished a good 63rd in a race with over one hundred finishers.

Many thanks to the parents who travelled over today and special thanks for the way they all supported each other during the races, particularly the Kennedys who waited for Justin's race after a long day.

The Qualifiers will run in the All-Irelands in Dunboyne on Sunday, December 15.






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