First off today were the under 9 girls and our little girls did us all proud by taking 3rd team. Great running by Keelin Gogarty in 2nd place, followed closely by Alex, Clare, Julieanne and Aimee. our under 11 girls were next off and our team finished in 2nd place with Clare Murphy leading the way, followed by fine runs form Anna, Ada, Alice, Sophie, Gillian and Laura May. Caoimhe was doing very well but had to drop out due to a stitch. Better luck next time Caoimhe. In the boys under 11 Jaeden and Conor were very impressive, tom and Finn found the going tough.
In the girls under 13 and Boys under 13 we had some athletes who didn’t turn up for the races and our teams were a little thin as a result. Alison had a great run in the girls race with Katie, Emily and Dora all having fine runs as well but weren’t strong enough to qualify for the Nationals. Billy had a great run in the under 13 boys race but the team was missing vital people and despite the best efforts of Evan, Ben and Oliver the failed to qualify for Nationals. in the under 15 boys race all the lads acquitted themselves well but as most were running up an age group getting through to National was never going to be easy. in the girls under 15 race Aoife Corr had a great race to finish 9th, Ellen wasnt well over the last 2 weeks and found the going tough and Ciara did very well to finish a very tough course.
The girls under 17 finished 2nd team with Cliona Carthy, Alison Armstrong, Cliona Murphy, Caoimhe and Maia all running well.
For the second week in a row Pierre Murchan was our outstanding athlete when he powered his way to win the under 17 championship beating the under 18 champion on the way! This was a fine performance and should give Pierre confidence as he tackles the National under 16 race in 2 weeks time. In the girls under 19 race Heather and Eva finished in the top 12. Unfortunately Olwyn hurt her leg and had to drop out.
Well done to all who came out to represent the club over the two weekends, thank you to the parents who brought you all and who helped out as well. It’s disappointing for the teams who didn’t make the Nationals due to the non-appearance of some athletes, especially if they had turned up qualification would have been certainly possible. We train the athletes, mind them on the dark nights etc and the least we expect is that they represent the club and support their fellow athletes by competing in the championships.
Celtic DCH 