West Waterford’s under 18 Girls are Munster Champions
Despite the terrible weather forecast for Sunday last the Munster Cross Country Championships were run in excellent conditions in Turnpike Co. Tipperary. The races got underway at 12 noon and although there was a strong wind blowing we did not see rain until halfway through the under 18 girls race. West Waterford’s girls were not fazed by the conditions and ran strongly throughout the race to win gold in the inter club championships. Running a stormer was Edel Roche who came home in 12th place to win her first individual medal at Munster level a big improvrmrnt on her 19th place last year. Rebecca Maher had her best run of the season when finishing 15th and with Claire Collins 19th and Kate Kennedy 25th their combined score of 71pts was enough to win the team title. All four girls also featured on the county team which won bronze medals in the inter county competition. The team has now qualified for the All Ireland finals, which will be held in Waterford at the end of November.
Great run from Michael Power
There is a big step up in standard from county to Munster level, apart from the large numbers at the start the races are run at a much faster pace, Young Micheal Power showed he was ready for both the pace and the crowded start as he worked his way steadily through the very large field to finish in fifth place and win his first Munster medal. With over 150 athletes in the race it was going to be difficult if you did not get out well at the start. Aidan Mc Kenna held his position well in the first third of the field to come home in 48th, next home was David Montgomery 78th, Oran Leamy 86th, Niall Blackwell 90th who were all competing at this level for the first time. In the girls under 10 Chloe showed she has the making of a fine cross country runner when she finished in 37th, not far behind her was Caoimhe Dwyer 42nd, next came Rachel Wyley 48th Dairine Ni Sheanlaoch 52nd and Aine Flynn 94th. The team score of 179pts saw the team finish in 5th with the county team just missing the medals as the finished 4th.
Munster Medals for Sinead Flynn, Cliona Ryan and Aisling Prendergast
A total of four medals were won by the under 12 girls and all were collecting their first Munster championship medals. Sinead Flynn though a novice at this level showed she could mix it with the more experienced athletes and had a well paced run to finish in 10th place. This was a great run when you remember that Sinead was running a year out of her age. Sinead won a second medal as a scoring member of the Waterford team who finished 3rd in the inter county event. Cliona Ryan has moved up to train with the older athletes this year and the benefits of this could be seen in Sunday where she improved by 25 places from last year to finish 22nd this year. Our third medal winner was Aisling Prendergast who has made a great improvement in the past few months and finished 41st. Kate Mc Grath 50th and Niamh Leamy 55th should also be part of the Waterford team that qualified for the All Ireland. Lorna Cummins finished 96th in this race.
Individual Medal for Sean Curran
Sean Curran is another young athlete who has made great progress this year. In his first year of cross-country he finished 20th in the under 11 race last Sunday in the under 12 race he showed just what an improvement he had made when he sprinted home to finish 7th in the boys under 12 race. Sean was also a scoring member of the Waterford team that finished third in the inter county championship. Tholm Reddy despite suffering from a cold finished next in 37th and newcomer Eoin O’Brien running well finished 40th. Oisin O’Mahoney was next in 65th with Richard Casey just two places behind in 67th and Shane O’Riordan 83rd and Eoin Dwyer 97th completed the team.With a total of 149pts the team were unlucky to finish in 4th position just three points behind the third placed team.
First Munster Medals for Lucy O’Brien & Robbie Mulligan
Lucy O’Brien makes the trip from Ballyduff twice a week to train with West Waterford and yesterday she was rewarded for her efforts with a 12th place finish in the under 14 girls race that earned her a first Munster medal. Gemma Wyley ran strongly to finish 51st and Chloe Lake had a great second half 700m to move up to 55th with Aine Power just two places further back in 57th. Dominique O’Mahoney in 88th place completed the team. In the under 14 boys Robbie Mulligan showed that he had also made huge stride this year with an individual medal as he finished in 12th place. His team mate brothers Einne and Darach o’Cathasaigh finished 41st and 55th while Cian Dwyer finished 53rd.
Great Run from Kate Veale
Our top performer on the day was Kate Veale in the under 16 girls. From the start Kate was always in the top three and she ran very strongly up the last hill to stake her claim on the individual silver medal. Una Mc Grath was next home in 31st, Clodagh Callagher 45th and Nicloa Coffey 52nd. The team finished in fourth place and just missed qualifying for the All Ireland championships. In the boys race David Earley was 38th with Lughaidh O’Mahoney in 51st.
Declan Power on Song
Declan Power had the best race of his athletics career when he finished 6th in a very strong field in the under 18 boys race. At the end of the first lap Declan was in 10th place but as the race progressed he made his way steadily through the field to 6th leaving some well know athletes in his wake. In the same event Joe Conway switched from race-walking back to cross-country and finished 17th.
Well done to all who took part and we look forward to seeing you in action again in Clare in three weeks time at the second round of the Munsters. All the individual winners from under 12 up have qualified for the All Ireland and will represent Munster on the day. The girls under 18 team and the county teams under 12 boys and girls and under 18 girls have also qualified for the All Ireland. The first ten finishers in yesterday’s races will make up the Waterford teams in these age groups.
Annual General Meeting
The A.G.M. of the juvenile section of the club will be held on Monday Nov. 17th in Minnies at 9.00pm. The A.G.M. is being held earlier than usual this year and as we will still be in training it is hoped there will be a big turn out of parents on the night.
Eason’s Cross Country League
Our local Eason’s Book Shop will sponsor our cross-country league this year and we thank Pat White for his continued support of this event. This year the league will change from its usual Friday format and will be run instead on Wednesdays at 4pm. The first session of the league begins on Wed 22nd. It will run through the mid term break on the 29th and after that run the teams will be decided. For the rest of the league it will be team points that are important so it is vital that you turn up every week to compete for your team.
Training moves to 4pm
As the evening are getting darker earlier we have moved our training time to 4pm on Wed and Friday.
Upcoming Events
Wed Oct. 22nd Easons League Starts @ 4pm
Wed Oct. 29th 2nd round Easons League @ 4pm
Sunday Nov. 9th Munsters under 9,11,13,15,17 &19 Co. Clare @12noon
Sunday Nov 16th County B Championships @ 1pm
