Sunday the 25th of September 2016 saw our young athletes brush off the Summer cobwebs, unscrew the 5mm spikes and replace them with longer grips before heading to the roaming hills of Greenanstowm, Stamullen to kick  start of the Cross Country season. As always the Star of the Sea meet drew talented athletes from through out Leinster, with the course holding up well it was the makings of a good days racing as a glimmer of heat was still in the air after a fresh start to the morning.

We had three angelic looking athletes in competition in the opening race of the day, but once the race got under way Sadbh Pitt, Catherine Hanlon and Julia Sherlock were more grimace faced as they battled their way to team gold in the under 9 girls race. Sadbh was in top form as she finished strongly, coming home  in third as she picked up the club’s first individual medal of the day. Both Catherine and Julia also played their part in this teams first Cross Country outing ever will all runners having a top twenty finish. Although only six years of age Catherine’s brother John joined Andrew Norman took part in the under 9 boys race, and showed signs of that he is a star in the making as he was well able to stay with the pace amongst his elders. Andrew was well up the field in what was the largest field of the day.

In the under 10 age group, Alice Griffin was our sole female athlete in action and looked in good form with a top twenty finish which bodes well for the upcoming County Championship. In the boys race Dylan Ryan despite being in the wars from the gun, recovered well and grabbed an individual medal as he powered homewards down the sloped finishing straight. Senan Howlin also had a bumpy start, and showed great maturity as he also pressed on for a top twenty finish.

Mathieu Kieffer  may have been medaling on the national stage on the track, but the grass is a different sport and having put his head down and going for glory from the gun the final hill approaching the finish straight saw him run out of stream and two Dunleer athletes pounced leaving a brave Mathieu having to settle with a bronze in the under 11 boys race.  Harry Smith was also in action in this race and a top twenty finish must make our boys team hot favorites for the Meath Championship in a fortnight when absent athletes return. Isabelle Philips  was all by her self in the girls race and as always she left it all out on the course, finishing exhausted, however she gave still managed to give us one of her famous smiles to show she had another good performance behind her.

Much was expected from our under 12 troop, having come away with team silverware in last year’s All Ireland Cross Country Championship and following the script the girls impressed as they romped home to team gold. Sophie Dolan was in excellent form as she made her way through the field to take silver, closely followed home in fourth by Aleah Kelly who despite a recent bout of illness earned her place on the podium. Laura Gavin and Sinead Magee were no slouches either in a race that saw all this quartet in the top twenty and left no doubt that Dunboyne AC had the team title sewn up. Adam Smyth was the lone crusader the boys race and despite only returning to training in recent weeks he is starting to shine already, earning a top ten finish in his debut race on grass for the 2016 season.

The under 13 girls had our biggest turnout of the day, as Rachael Norman, Kayla Ryan, Niamh Sherlock, Kate Griffin and Lucy Eglington joined forces in a bid for glory. Rachel was the strongest performer on this occasion as she battled all the way to the line to claim an individual award, with Kayla two places back snatching the final individual award. What impressed me most about this bunch of athletes was that all five were top twenty finishers, however they were pipped by a strong Mullingar team and had to settle for silver in the team competition. Ross Lyons was another of our athletes getting over a bout of flu, he still took off like lunatic and put the field under pressure from the off, and he was not caught until the top of the final hill. Ross finished in bronze position, but by the time he meets theses rivals at the Leinsters there will be no catching this fella. Pablo Mendoza was a debutante on the Cross Country scene on Sunday and he showed great promise as he finished just outside the top ten, however he had an introduction to the pain associated with this athletics discipline.

We were short yet again in making up a team in both the under 14 races, with a brace of athletes in both races, but this did not hinder our overall medal haul. Doireann Ni Fhlatharta took the race by the horns as she led her race from start to finish and Katie Greene was well able for the fast pace as she also powered to a place on the podium. Conor and Marc Leane were side by side at the startline of of the boys race, and both were in each oters company on the podium at the end of the race. Conor battled with his arch rival from the track in a photocopy of the All Ireland 1500m final as he was edged out and settled for silver, as Marc was comfortable as he strolled home in fourth in his return to distance running.

Last in action on the West Meath course were our ever smiling under 15 girls namely Kate Reilly, Nicole Frazer, Sarah Magee and Anna Griffin who were back to re claim last year’s crown and in an exciting race Kate just edged Nicole to earn the last individual medal, and with both Sarah and Anna also having top twenty finishes, the writing was on the wall as the girls out gunned local rivals Trim for the gold medal.

Well done to all our athletes, and a big thank you to all who traveled to support and coach our young stars. Roll on the Meaths.