Beaufort in County Kerry was the venue for the 2018 Munster Novice and even ages cross country championships which were held yesterday. It was a day of mixed weather with persistent rain in the morning clearing to sunshine as the day went on. Underfoot conditions were very good on what could be described as a relatively flat and fast course.
There were great performances from all of the Durrus A.C. athletes many of whom were running up an age. Well done to all who competed, Max Leahy, Padraig O'Sullivan, Liam Horstmanhoff & Aidan Collins in the boys u.10 1,000m; Beibhinn Horstmanhoff, Eva Leahy, Chloe Hegarty & Lily Collins in the girls u. 12 2000m; Finnian Lawton & Damien Williams in the boys u.12 2000m; Caoimhe Horstmanhoff in the girls u. 14, 3000m; Sean Lawton, Colm Hegarty & Fionn Harrington in the boys u. 14, 3,000m; Aoibheann Lawton, Caoimhe Cotter & Ellen Collins in the girls u. 16, 4,000m & Michael Harrington in the Mens Novice 6,000m.
Individual medallists on the day were Sean Lawton and Fionn Harrington who finished in 4th and 11th place respectively, both having superb runs in a very competitive and fast paced race. As they were both in the top 12, they have automatically qualified for the All Ireland boys under 14 xc championships which will be held in Abbotstown, Dublin in November. They both helped Cork win team silver, with Sean being the 1st scorer and Fionn being the 4th place scorer for Cork. Aoibheann Lawton also had a great run finishing in 15th position overall, and helped Cork win team gold by being the 6th scorer, earning herself a Cork team gold medal. Aoibheann has also qualified for the All Ireland XC championships representing Cork.
Michael Harrington had a very strong run in the Mens Novice race, being to the front of the lead group from the outset and finished in 2nd place overall and also was the 2nd scorer on the Cork team who took the team gold medals yesterday with an overall scoring of 28 points.
Results on the Munster Athletics website here
Photos on the Durrus Athletic Facebook page here
The next fixture on the cross country calendar is the County Bs which will be held next Monday in Conna. Further information on the Cork Athletics website here
