On Wednesday 15th February, Santry Demense was the venue for the Leinster Schools Cross Country Championships for the 10th successive year.
Dunboyne AC were well represented with our athletes lining out in the black singlets of St Peters College. A pleasant day greeted the athletes as they made their way to the start line for this high quality well organised event. Many of the Dunboyne contingent had a tough weekend’s running in their legs but all ran with credit on the day.
To get to run in these Leinster Champsionships, all the athletes had to qualify by individually placing in the top 15 in the West Leinster Cross Country Championship last month, or be part of a team finishing in the top 3 in that competition.
The prize on Wednesday was a place in the All Ireland Schools Championships in Belfast in March where again the top 15 finishers from each race and the top 3 teams automatically qualified from this Leinster Championship.
First up were the Minor Girls were Doireann Ni Fhlatharta and Aoife McCormack were the only representatives. Both started aggressively and were well up at the head of the field throughout. Doireann’s well-timed kick earned her a place on the podium with a very well deserved bronze after her hugely successful weekend while Aoife dug deep and continued her recent good form by finishing 13th meaning both girls qualified for the All Ireland Championships in March.
St Peter’s had a team in the Minor boys competition. Conor and Marc Leane were joined by Martin Campbell and Matthew Dolan in this big field. Both Conor and Marc were very unlucky to just miss out on the top 15 qualifiers, while Martin and Matthew battled all the way to line. The team were out of luck, finishing outside the medals but well up the field of school teams.
Next up was the Junior girls race and Dunboyne AC had 5 girls competing on the St Peters team. Kate Reilly led the girls home running a very strong race, showing in the top bunch throughout the race. Next home was Honor Hickey, closely followed by Katie Greene both girls running very well with Katie surviving a spiking early in the race. Sarah Magee and Anna Griffin were next home on the team, both running strongly over the 2.5k circuit. Unfortunately there was no luck for the team in the junior girls competition.
Dunboyne AC had two athletes in the Intermediate girls race. Bonnie McFeat, who is running very strongly of late, continued her good form with a very strong showing here finishing well up the large field. Not far behind her was Rachel McManus who is recovering from a recent bout of illness but still ran a very respectable race. Again the St Peters team were outside the medals here.
Well done to all and congratulations and best of luck to Doireann and Aoife in the All Ireland Championships in Belfast in March.
