Munster Un-Even Age Championships – Turnpike
The club were very much looking forward to these championships on Sunday. We didn’t have far to travel as our neighbours in Moycarkey Coolcroo kindly hosted the competition thanks to the Hayes family. This cross-country course is very popular and attracted over 1,400 athletes on the day. Weather conditions held up brilliantly with the sun shining and despite the volume of rainfall in recent days, underfoot conditions were better than expected. Albeit, sticky and testing which was a challenge, our athletes really did themselves justice, with many delighted with their efforts. For young athletes these championships give perfect opportunity to gain experience and understand the art of competitive racing and tactics. Well done to everyone for the toeing the line and challenging themselves!
In the girls U9 are girls finished a credible 7th in the club competition! Aoibheann Doyle led the club home in an incredible 31st place. This was a great effort and much to Aoibheann’s delighted she was a vital scorer on the intercountry team that secured bronze! Congratulations! Aoibheann was followed home by her teammates Grace Cantwell (45th), Beibhinn Maher (62nd), Daisy Lyons (84th) and Oonagh Sweeney (108th).
Tom Esmonde (33rd), Luke Kelly (73rd) and Tom O’ Shea were representatives in the boys U9 race. Well done boys! Annie Ely (46th), Lily Murphy (104th), Doireann Quinlan (111th) and Maebh O’ Shea (150th) were 17th club on the day in probably the biggest field of athletes with 181 finishers! One of the highlights of the day was the brave run from Matthew Esmonde! Matthew loves cross-country and his race showed how determined and gritty he is as he raced hard and hung on to cross the line 12th overall! A top 12 finish earned him an individual medal! Not only that, this result secures his All Ireland qualification in Navan in December. A day we are all very much looking forward to! Matthew was also in luck as the Tipperary team performed exceptionally well as they finished 3rd in the intercountry division. Therefore, Matthew will be representing club and county in Navan! The team of Matthew, Darragh Maher (85th), Tom Renehan (96th) and James Ryan (134th) finished 13th in the club division and these boys can be proud of their efforts too!
Next in action was the girls u13 and following their brilliant race at County’s last weekend the trio of Muireann Casey, Abbie Delaney and Caoimhe Slevin were back flying and running very well at this level. Muirean was 60th overall with Caoimhe in 85th and Abbie close behind in 90th. In the boys U13 Bill O’ Neill finished (108th) in his race. Aisling O’ Reilly ran very well and battled hard to the end to finish in 27th. She was 2nd Tipp girl home who just missed out on qualifying for the All Ireland in 4th spot. None the less, Aisling has made great strides this season and is looking forward to the next outing. Jack Renehan was in the boys U15 race and he too gave it his all and finished 58th! Well done to him. Emma and Kate Delaney were next in action in the U17 race and while Emma had to pull up, Kate worked her way through the field and ran really positively. She was 18th over the line! Adam Phelan raced in the U17 competition too and he found the going sapping but preserved to run very well to finish 34th. Adam was part of the Tipperary team who finished 2nd in the inter county division so he too will have to prepare himself for yet another National champs in Navan! Good man Adam! Michael O’ Mahoney and Aaron Moore were in the boys U19 event, where they covered 4,500m. Unfortunately, Aaron had to pull up during the race. Michael however, worked very hard and fought to the end to finish in 13th place. He was the 4th scorer for Tipperary who won the gold in the intercountry championship, they were led home by Nenagh’s Cian Hodgins who won the race in a very convincing manner. Michael will look forward to the Tipperary hopes at Nationals as this group of Athletes will fight it out against the rest of the Nation in a couple of weeks’ time! Best of luck with the preparations Michael.
Last in action on the day was Senior, Pakie Bowe. Pakie didn’t shy away from the tough 10k battle and raced very well on what was a thrilling race that saw Michael Harty of East Cork power up the hill to get away from St. John’s Jake O’ Regan in a great race gun to tape! Pakie ran very strongly making up ground throughout to came home in 27th place! Credit to him!
Thanks to the parents and supporters for attending and we look forward to the next couple of weeks as the Cross Country seasons comes to a climax with Nationals on the horizon in the next couple of weeks. Best of luck to our athletes on their preparations and well done to all who competed this season.
Split the Bucket
This week’s prize pot was won by Grace Cantwell who received €169. Well done Grace!
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