It was a very successful day for our athletes who made the journey to Dunboyne in Co. Meath for the All Ireland Juvenile Uneven ages & Novice cross country championships. Dunboyne A.C. were the host club and Cow Park was the venue and though a relatively flat enough course, it was very, very mucky and boggy. It is a big ask of athletes at this time of the year to make it to the start line in full health and injury free. Most of our juvenile athletes had to contend with a lot of sickness recently which hampered their training however, they were determined to take their positions on the start line and do their best.
Beibhinn horstmanhoff competed, wearing the Cork singlet, with her usual strength and determination in the girls u. 13 2500m race. Although Cork did not win any county team medals, Beibhinn was the 4th placed scorer for Cork which is a big improvement on her placing in the County championships.
Fionn Harrington and Seán Lawton were next up in the boys under 15 3500m distance. Fionn got a very good start and settled in nicely to the fast paced race. He ran side by side with his training partner Seán for a good part of the race before Seán pulled away from him with a km to go. However, Fionn found some energy in the final few hundred metres and gave it everything he had running in to the finish line passing athletes on the way finishing in 7th overall. Seán also had a fierce battle to get to the finish line with two other athletes and he took the 10th place medal and both were thrilled to make the top 12 finishers podium. Not only did they win individual medals, but they both were scorers on the Cork team and the Munster team who both claimed the gold medals.
Aoibheann Lawton was next up in the girls u. 17 4000m race and ran brilliantly throughout finishing in a super 15th place overall. This was a huge improvement on her finishing place in 2018. Aoibheann was the 2nd Cork athlete over the line and the 4th Munster athlete, which again is a significant improvement on her County and Munster performance. Aoibheann did not come home empty handed, winning both a Gold Cork County team medal and a broze Munster medal.
Michael Harrington competed in the last race of the day, the mens Novice race over a distance of 6 km. The course was well and truly dug up and mucky at this stage in the day, so it was a pure test of strength and stamina. Michael finished in 49th position out of a field of 216 athletes and was delighted to win a silver medal with the Cork team, being the 5th place scorer for them.
Huge well done to all athletes, who had the honour of competing against the best of athletes from the four corners of Ireland.
RESULTS HERE -
PHOTOS HERE
Athletics Ireland Report / provisional results
