Sunday the 11th of October saw our juvenile athletes back on the road again, this time they were off to the Father Murphy AC venue just outside Athboy where they were contesting the Meath Un- Even Ages Cross Country Championship. The course was a flat and fast course which was going to suit the Dunboyne AC panel, and after some fine performances last weekend there was very high expectation from the coaches.
It was disappointing that only one under 9 athlete was in action, with Daithi Gannon who was making his debut at Cross Country being the sole representative from our younger group. Daithi could hold his head up high after a fine race which saw him finish in the top half of the field.
In the under 11 girls race we had Aleah Kelly joining our more experienced quintet of Sophie Dolan, Laura Gavin, Aideen Reilly, Kate Stewart and Serena Gavin. This was one of those exciting races that saw both debutante Aleah and Sophie (who despite having a little tumble early in the race) battle it out in the individual race for the podium with Aleah taking silver just ahead of bronze medalist Sophie. Our first four scores were in the top 7 of the field which made the calculation for the team prize easy as gold was always going to be the outcome from this talented squad.
Our under 11 boys were not going to let the girls have all the headlines and despite moving up an age group Ciaran ‘Duracell Bunny’ McCormack pushed his competition all the way to the finish line and earned a bronze medal as he led Adam Smith, Mathieu Keiffer, Adam Vaughan and Caolan McGovern to our second team gold of the day. Overall this age group raced to eight automatic county call ups for the upcoming Leinster Cross Country Championship that are to be held in New Ross in November.
With high standards being set by their juniors the under 13 girls team were seeking to make it a hat-trick of team county titles as they lined out for the start of their race. With our under 12 team members namely Rachael Norman, Niamh Sherlock, Holly Conlon, Ruby McFeat and Luck Eglington moving up an age group to join Abigail Knox, Chloe Frazer, Doireann Ni Fhlatharta and Katie Greene the hot favorite tag belonged to the Dunboyne AC team and the girls ended up with the best team score of the day in winning their crown. Doireann was an impressive winner as she added her under 13 title to her list of 2015 achievements and with Abigail (who showed great character running with a chest infection) pipping Rachael as they duelled up the home straight for the individual bronze medal position, the team prize was only going one way with seven of the girls in contention for representing the Royal County in Wexford next month.
The highlight of the days racing had to be the Leane/Dunboyne AC 1-2 in the boys under 13 race where Conor was our second and equally as impressive gold medal winner as Marc romped home to add to fuel the argument of which of the parent’s sides the talent really comes from. The boys also guaranteed their county selection in what is a very talented collection of high achieving athletes.
Well done to all and always a big thanks to all the coaches and supporters who travelled.
Photos of our fantastic juvenile athletes, doing their thing…
http://dunboyneathleticclub.com/gallery/un-even-ages-meath-xc-championships-fr-murphys-athboy/
