It was a short journey up to Father Murphy’s AC grounds on the outskirts of Athboy for the Day 1 of the Meath Cross Country Championships-(Even Ages) for the Dunboyne AC. The grounds as always were in immaculate condition, describe as a flat carpet by one of our youngsters who has just recovered from the shock of running the hilly courses in recent cross countries and despite a bit of drizzle they were well pleased with the race conditions.
Under 10 girls:
Sadhb Pitt
Faith Lyons
Catherine Hanlon
Le An Grogan
Julia Harkin
Our outing got off to a fantastic start as Sadhb positioned herself at the front of the field in a electrically fast opening race of the day, timing her sprint to perfection just before the finishing straight to go on and take gold. With Catherine and Le An also in the top ten this group of girl won a deserved silver medal after being pipped by the smallest of margins for the top spot on the podium for the team competition.
Under 10 Boys:
Cian Coyle
Alex Doyle
Paul Magee
Andrew Norman
George Comerford
Again we had five athletes in the opening boys race of the day, with our under nine boy George leading the pack home in sixth. With strong runs from Cian and Andrew who finished in the top ten, when Paul and Alex who prefer shorter (sprint races) dug deep as they earned this hard working bunch a deserved bronze medal and a photo-shoot on the podium.
Under 12 Girls:
Kate Gormley
Elizabeth Comerford
Sophie Brown
Isabelle Philips
Hannah Brown
Kate Drake
Kate was unlucky not to medal as an individual just pushed out of a medal spot in the latter stages of the race, however with Elizabeth and Sophie grouping close behind in the top ten, debutant Kate led Isabella and Hannah home to have all this cheeky bunch finish in the top thirty in the biggest field of the day and lay claim on a team prize. Again the girls were just squeezed out of top spot and had to settle for silver on the day.
Under 12 Boys:
Ciaran McCormack
Mathieu Kieffer
Dylan Ryan
Harry Doherty
Liam Jennings
Ciaran was in majestic form as he re-claimed his county title in what was tactically a very mature run and not even a sneaky look over the shoulder as he powered to victory. With Dylan who was running out of age out sprint Mathieu for the individual bronze, the writing was on the wall for the team standings when both Liam and Harry also had strong races. There was celebrations early on in the proceedings as there was no calculator required to deceiver who had won gold and top spot on the podium in the team competition.
Under 14 Girls:
Niamh Sherlock
Rachael Norman
Ruby McFeat
Aoife McCormack
Kayla Ryan
Lucy Eglington
Kate Griffin
Dervla McNiochlas
Kirsten Kelly Moody
Holly Conlon
Not many clubs nationwide can turnout a team of ten for an underage race, and that was with a few no-shows due to injuries, illness and other sporting appointments. But this group brought quality as well as quantity on the day, as Kayla fought the pain and even had a surreal sprint finished as she was just held off for top spot. Aoife was another who just got squeezed out on the home-front as she frustratingly came home in fourth. We actual had five finish in the top ten as Holly, Rachael and Niamh also had good performances but alas the County Title went to Ratoath in an event dominated by the two clubs. The County team will be amongst the favourites in the upcoming Leinster Championship.
Under 14 Boys:
John Brown
Ross Lyons
We had a few no shows in this boys event and it was left to John who was moving up an age to accompany Ross to the start-line. Ross benefited from a slow opening lap before he got to do battle with his arch-rival in the second half of the race as they stretched the field and he won this close fought battle in the final two hundred meters to claims Dunboyne AC’S third Individual County Title of the day. John was also well up the field which bodes well for him next weekend.
Under 16 Girls:
Doireann Ni Fhlatharta
Bonnie McFeat
Kate Reilly
Katie Greene
Sarah Magee
Anna Griffin
Doireann was back on the podium in the 3500m race as she came away with a bronze medal and with Katie and Bonnie also having top ten finishes the girls earned the Club’s second County Title of the day as Anna and Sarah came home together to secure top spot. Kate had to drop out due to injury early in the race, but should be available for the upcoming provincial races.
Under 16 Boys:
Marc Leane
Conor Leane
Last up of our juveniles were the Leane twins who are still on the comeback trail and who ran out of age to get the miles back in the legs. The boys came home in fifth and Sixth in what is one of the strongest age groups in Meath which all in all was a good days work.
A big thank you to all who travelled in support and well done to all our athletes and coaches.
More photos (and more added soon) on our club Flickr page: https://www.flickr.com/photos/151447904@N02
