Individual Medals for Fia, Noah and Naoise
Day two of the Munster Cross Country Championships were held at the Turnpike, Two Mile Borris Co Tipperary last Sunday. The day dawned bright and sunny and after all the rain of the last few weeks it was great to get a fine day for racing. The ground conditions were very sticky and draining on the legs so each 1000m run felt like 2000m. There were some very big fields especially the under 11 girls where 180 athletes completed the course. Well done to all our athlete who completed the course and especially Leah, Ellie Mai and Ava who all lost a shoe during their races but battled through on one shoe to finish their races.
West Waterford had three individual medal winners on the day Fia de Paor who had her best race to date and took the individual silver medal in the girls under 17 race. Noah Commins shook off his recent illness to come home 6th in the under 15 boys race and Naoise MacMhurchadha who finish 8th in the under 17th boys race. All three have now qualified to compete on the Munster teams at the National Cross Country Championships on December 3rd.
Munster Medals for Tello and Ruy de Arco Calva
First in action were our under 9 athletes who were competing for the Munster Championships for the first time. This was a big step up in standard from the county championships with large field in both races. Our under 9 girls Eatain Ní Mhurchadha and Harriet Byrne finished in 72nd and 82nd place. The seven under 9 boys all finished in the top 100. First home in 24th place was Tello de Arce Calvo followed by his twin brother Ruy in 37th. Both boys scored on the Waterford team which finished 3rd and will now have Munster and county medals to bring home to Spain with them at Christmas. Andy Zakis was next home in 52nd closely followed by David Kiely in 55th and Richard Ahern in 64th. Tadgh Kinsella was next home in 85th and Billy O’Riordan completed the team in 92nd.
Medals for Leah Kiely and Ellie Mai Doherty in Girls Under 11
In the girls under 11 race Waterford finished third in the Inter county event and West Waterford’s Leah Kiely and Ellie Mai Doherty were scoring members of the team. Leah finished in 23rd place which was a huge improvement on her 67th place last year. Ellie Mai was next home in 42nd place and together with Isabelle Daly 74th and Eile de Paor 93rd all qualify for the All Ireland as part of the Waterford team. Darcy Lavin was running in her first Munster championships and finished 123rd we also had Sinead Houlihan 143, Aisling Hickey 161 and Sinead Donnolly 173.
In the boys race Jarlath Hurney was first home for the club in 38th place followed by Lope de Arce Calvo in 52nd, Tiernan Hogan 63rd, Colm O’Muiri 88th, Sebastian Byrne 122nd and Jamie Kiely 130th.
Saoirse, Ava and Natalie qualify for the All Ireland
The West Waterford duo of Saoirse Kinsella and Ava Kiely just missed out on their first Munster medals as they were the 7th and 8th members of the Waterford team home with the first six getting medals. They did however along with Natalie Barry qualify to compete on the Waterford team in the All Ireland on Dec 3rd. Saoirse was first home in 55th place which was a big step up from her 98 place last year. Just two places behind in 57th was Ava and Natalie finished in 104th place.
We had three boys competing in a very tough under 13 race with Fergus Donnolly finishing 66th, Peter Ahern 78th (a big improvement on his 95th place last year) and Lochlann Hurney 120th .
Individual Medal for Noah Team Medal for Isabelle
In the girls under 15 race all three of our athletes were running out of their age group and put in a good performance over the tough 3,500m course. Isabelle Gaffney came home 29th and was a scoring member of the Waterford team that finished 3rd. Luisne de Paor and Siún Cunningham both improved on last year’s performances when finishing 61st and 68th and both have also qualified for the All Ireland as part of the Waterford team.
In the boys event we had our first individual medal winner of the day when Noah Commins crossed the line in 6th place. Noah had missed the under 16 championships through illness and had been fighting his way back to peak fitness for this event and the hard work paid off and he will now compete on the Munster team at the All Ireland Championships.
Individual and Team Medals for Under 17’s
The best performance of the day by a club athlete came in the under 17 girls where Fia de Paor stuck with the leading bunch over the 4,500m distance to take 2nd place in the girls under 17 race. Fia has trained consistently over the past few months rarely missing a training day and this showed in her performance on Sunday. Fia led the Waterford team to silver medals in the team competition and a much improved Lauren Cliffe and Sarah O’Riordan who finished 17th and 19th were also scoring members of the team. Eabha Hickey finished 34th and was the sixth scoring member of the team the first time she has scored on a Waterford team in her age group.
There was one last individual medal for West Waterford in the boys under 17 race where Naoise MacMhurchadha ran in the top ten throughout the race and came with a strong sprint over the closing stages to finish 8th and qualify to compete on the Munster team at the All Ireland.
Well done to all who competed in the tough conditions on Sunday last and especially to those who finished with two shoes on. Special congratulations to the 15 athletes who have qualified to represent the club at the National Championships.
All Ireland under 12,14,16,18 in Gowran on Sunday 19th November.
All roads lead to Gowran racecourse next Sunday for the first session of the All Ireland Championships under 12,14,16 & 18. We have a number of athletes qualified for this All Ireland.
Munster Teams: Isabelle Gaffney under 14, Fia de Paor under 16, Grainne Moore under 18 and Naoise Mac Mhurdha under 18
County Teams:
under 14: Isabelle Gaffney, Ava Kiely, Sophie Beresford, Luisne de Paor, Saoirse Kinsella
Under 16: Fia de Paor, Sarah Gaffney, Sarah O’Riordan and Lauren Cliffe
Club Team under 16: Fia de Paor, Sarah Gaffney, Sarah O’Riordan, Lauren Cliffe, Aoife O’Donovan, Ami Flavin.
We will set up on the course at 10.15 to give everyone a chance to walk the course before the races start.
Best of luck to everyone competing.
Elvery’s InterSport Winter League (Tony’s League)
Time is flying and we are already three weeks into our Winter League (Tony’s League) sponsored by Elverys Intersport.
The first two weeks we to establish base line times and the team race is now underway. There was great excitement on Wed last at training as the teams went up. This year we have 8 teams and 66 athletes have so far taken part in the league.
After the first week of the team competition the points are as follows. Lowest points are best.
Team A Noah’s Team 331
Team B Fia’s Team 369
Team C Isabelle’s Team 362
Team D Cillian’s Team 405
Team E Fergus’ Team 348
Team F Sarah O’R’s Team 368
Team G Peter’s Team 365
Team H Sarah G’s Team 361
All the Times for the first three weeks are listed below. Check your progress
Full Lap 25/10/2023 01/11/2023 08/11/2023
1 Noah Commins 6.52 – 6.33
2 Isabelle Gaffney 7.25 – 7.20
3 Cillian O Tuathaigh 7.29 – 7.22
4 Fia De Paor 7.15 7.58 7.28
5 Fergus Donnelly 7.39 8.06 7.36
6 Sarah Gaffney 7.51 – 7.54
7 Jarlaith Hurney 7.52 – 7.54
8 Sarah O Riordan 7.46 8.17 7.56
9 Lauren Cliffe 7.55 8.18 7.59
10 Peter Ahearne 7.51 – 8.04
11 Colm O Murrai 8.06 8.16 8.07
12 Tiernan Hogan 8.12 8.13 8.09
13 Ami Flavin 8.34 8.21 8.12
14 Lope De Dalvo 8.12 – 8.13
15 Kevin Russell 8.14 8.55 8.17
16 David Dempsey 8.24 8.59 8.20
17 Luisne De Paor 9.31 8.45 8.29
18 Ciara Flavin 8.40 8.26 8.30
19 Elli Mai Doherty 9.18 8.58 8.32
20 Saoirse Kinsella – 8.47 8.34
21 Mark Mc Loughlin 8.43 8.46 8.43
22 Ava Kiely 9.31 8.32 8.45
23 Alicia Radley – 9.12 8.45
24 Amy Cosgrave 8.48 – 8.47
25 Leah Kiely 8.59 – 8.49
26 Darren Doherty 9.16 9.35 8.55
27 Seb Byrne – 8.50 9.03
28 Rian Flavin 9.12 8.59 9.09
29 Siun Cunningham 9.13 8.58 9.15
30 Katie Mai Daly 9.22 9.18 9.19
31 Natalie Barry 9.51 10.07 9.20
32 Isabel Daly 8.56 9.24 9.22
33 Sarah Hallissey 9.23 – 9.22
34 Eile de Paor 9.09 – 9.28
35 Eoghan Kenny 9.01 – 9.35
36 Darcy Lavin 9.33 9.53 9.42
37 Nathan Butler 9.57 – 9.56
38 Aisling Hickey 10.10 9.58 10.19
39 Eabha Hickey 9.53 9.58 10.25
40 Caoimhe Houlihan 11.41 12.21 11.19
Loughlan Hurney 8.49 8.46 –
Rachel Keogh 9.21 – –
Siobhan Hickey 11.40 11.14 –
Doireann Hickey – 10.10 –
Short Lap 25/10/2023 01/11/2023 08/11/2023
41 Tello De Calvo 3.57 – 3.56
42 Ruy De Calvo 3.55 – 4.05
43 Andy Zakis 3.57 – 4.06
44 David Kiely 4.18 4.17 4.09
45 Tadhg Kinsella 4.34 – 4.24
46 Jamie Kiely 4.36 4.07 4.31
47 Alex Dempsey 4.38 4.42 4.35
48 Thomas Higgins 5.07 5.07 4.43
49 Billy O Riordan 4.54 4.36 4.49
50 Etain Ni Mhurchu 5.25 5.26 4.56
51 Sinead Houlihan 5.46 5.27 4.57
52 Mollai Breathnach 5.45 5.28 5.01
53 Vaughan Daly 4.56 5.08 5.04
54 Daniel Curran 5.07
55 Fionn Mc Keon 5.48 – 5.08
56 Fiadh Hamblin 5.22 5.12 5.15
57 Siun Ni Thuathaigh 5.24 – 5.23
58 Ryan Tobin 5.21 – 5.26
59 Indie Mc Donnell 5.19 5.14 5.32
60 Harriette Byrne 5.11 5.16 5.39
61 Sinead Donnelly 5.13 5.20. 5.41
Charlie Ahearne 4.24
