Meath Cross Country Championships Day 1 & 2

Day 1 and 2 of the Meath Cross Country Championships were held over the past few weeks with the even age’s championships kicking off the championship season in Broadmeadow Equestrian Centre, Ashbourne.

Our u10 girls were in flying form with Caoimhe Fitzsimons having to battle all the way to the line to take the gold in the girls u10 1000m, closely followed by Ciara Coroner 3^rd, Lauren Fewer 5^th, Kate Rafterty 8^th, great running also from Aideen Davis, Jane Dolan, Eline Lund, Kayla Smith and Sadbh Kelly. This is a very talented bunch of girls and it was no surprise that they secured the team title with a great score of 18 points. We had the bare minimum of 4 to make up the u10 boys team, great credit to the lads who were all running cross country for the first time, Sean Fleming had a terrific run to finish fourth, followed in by Adam O’Connor 14^th, Jack Kelly 16^th and Joshua Hall 18^th which was good enough to place them 2^nd with a score of 52 points in the team event.

Aimee Doherty had a very strong run to win the girls u12 1500m, followed in by Sophie Quinn 6^th, Amelia Campbell 13^th, Ciara Walsh 16^th, Molly Keane 18^th and Laura Smith 23^rd. Great run in particular from Ciara Walsh who has improved greatly this year and will be one to watch. We had the bare minimum again in the boy’s u12 event, but with great individual performances from Fionn Drummond 3^rd, Kyle Witter 8^th, Jamie Fewer 9^th and Callum Whitbread 25^th the lads did enough to take silver in a very tight team event finishing only 4 points off gold.

Aine O’ Connor and Ciaran Crowther were our only competitors in the u18 event, Aine finishing 3^rd in the girls 4k event and Ciaran Crowther having a great run in a National Standard field finishing 4^th in the 6k race. Hugh Kelly was our only senior in action finishing 20th in the Novice men’s 6k.

We had great numbers out for day 2 which was held at Fr. Murphy’s Athletic Club in Fraine, Athboy. Our u9 showed no sign of nerves with both the girls and boys team finishing 1^st in the team event with great team scores of 18 and 20 points respectively. Great individual performances from the girls with Katie Doherty 1^st, Sophie Coroner 3^rd, Saorise Corrigan 4^th, Amelia Holland 10^th, Tara Coyne 14^th, Emily Pullen 15^th and Enya Clare 18^th and the boys with James Kelly 1^st, Harry Bogan 4^th, Fionn Heffernan 7^th, Gavin Witter 8^th, Liam Walsh 17^th, Conor Walsh 23^rd and Charlie O’ Connor 27^th.

Sophie Quinn had a convincing win in the girl’s u11 1200m, followed in by Laura Kelly 5^th, Aishling Stratford 9th, Lily Nannery 17^th, and Amy Forde 18^th, great running also from Caitlin Corrigan, Abbie Coyne, Niamh Murray, Ellie Mahon and Sophie Greene. The girls finished 2^nd in the team event on a score of 32 points.  Eoin Kane had a great kick finish in the boys u11 race taking him from 4^th to 2^nd in the last 100m, had he gone earlier he would have surely taken gold, Eoin was closely followed by Harry O’ Connor 5^th and the ever improving Stephen Walsh 10^th, Oliver Walter 21^st, Liam Doyle 31^st and Matthew Keane 32^nd. In another close team event the lads finished 2^nd and were only 7 points off first place.

Our u13 boys took our third team gold of the day with a great team effort and fighting performances from Tom Kilgannon in 3^rd, Oisin Kelly 5^th, Matthew Hayes another greatly improved athlete 9^th and Stephen Kiernan with a great run 14^th. It was great to see all the lads making the very talented County Team who should go far at Leinster and National level.

Our u15 girls team of Karen Hayes, Aoife Kelly and Zara Kane finished a close 2^nd behind Trim in the team event, Karen finishing 5^th, Aoife 8^th and Zara 18^th. The u15 boys finished 2^nd also with good performances form Adam Quinn 8^th, Fergal Kilgannon 9^th, Harry Haskins 13^th and Ben Toole 15^th.

Ben Mahon and Harry Bailey gave the field a ½ lap lead due to a mix up in the event schedule/start time, the lads put in a good run none the less finishing 9^th and 11^thand both making the County team.

Aine O’Connor was in top form also with a great run to finish 2^nd in the girls u17 4000m.

Best of luck to our athletes who have qualified for the Leinster Championships