KENNEDYS GO ONE-TWO AGAIN AND BRONZE FOR U12 LADS

Superb 4th place finish for Eoghan Farrell as Ellie O'Rourke & Kirsty Henry also take home Connacht medals

New Irish Masters International Michelle Lannon performs well again

Congratulations to all our members who competed in the Western Region Cross-country at Sligo Racecourse, a very well organised event on a tough course that tested every aspect of the cross-country runner.

Pride of place once again goes to the Kennedy twins who finished first and second in the U12 Boys race, Declan finishing the stronger over the final big hill to take the gold ahead of his brother Patrick. Both lads held back a bit at the start and it paid dividends as they moved into the lead after 700m and were never threatened after that.

Behind them we had three lads making their Connacht debuts and what debuts they were - Oran Butler and Riaghan Guckian are both a year out of their own age group but produced brilliant runs to finish 23rd and 26th while Ben Clarke showed great strength to come through the field and finish strongly.

With the great runs of the lads, they all brought home two medals - we claimed third in the team competition while Declan, Patrick, Oran & Riaghan were part of the scoring six with Mark & Niall Ahern that finished third in the Inter-county race. A great day out.

Eoghan Farrell may have gone home without a medal but he produced a breakthrough performance - running out of his age group in the U18 6,000m, Eoghan stormed through the field and was so full of running that, reminscent of the way his uncle Padraig used to attacks hills, he was closing on the bronze medal all the way to the finish line.

Unfortunately, Eoghan ran out of room but took a good many scalps in an excellent performance that anyone who has seen him training over the last few months knew was coming.

Ellie O'Rourke and Kirsty McHenry also won Connacht bronze medals as part of the Leitrim team who finished third in the Inter-County race. Ellie started strongly and was well up. She, as she admits herself, went through a bad patch but rallied strongly to finish 11th in the race run with U18 & U20 Girls.

Kirsty McHenry started a bit more cautiously but again showed that strength that we all see at training over the second half to come through for 15th place and a great run ahead of her own age group next Sunday in Ballina.

Unfortunately for the third of our gang in the race, it wasn't a good day as a recurrance of a back injury meant Lauren Reynolds had to drop out and anyone who knows or has trained with this tough athlete, it takes a lot to stop Lauren from finishing a race. She'll be back flying soon.

Brendan Kennedy produced a superb performance as well to finish ninth in the U14 Boys race. Left a little on the line when the field took off on "on your marks", Brendan worked his way through the field to qualify strongly for the All-Ireland Finals.

Emily Reynolds was our last Juvenile in action and despite feeling unwell before the start, she ran strongly in the U14 race, a good preparation for next Sunday's U13 race in Ballina.

In the Adult races, Michelle Lannon and Susanne O'Beirne competed strongly in the Women's race while Ken Kennedy and Michael Keane produced two excellent runs in the Men's race - although we're wondering if Michael will agree to Ken's suggestion again of a nice cross-country run.

Thanks to all our athletes for their efforts today, even more special thanks to the parents who came along to cheer on each and every one of them especially Lorna Kennedy, Paddy Guckian, Paula Butler, James, Ann & Hannah Farrell and Ronnie Clarke.
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