Tullamore Harriers U-16 girls are crowned Leinster champions
A squad of almost 40 Tullamore Harriers athletes made the journey to Dundalk last weekend to compete in the Leinster Cross Country Championships (even ages).
Tullamore Harriers athletes won a decent haul of medals at the championships hosted by Athletics Louth in Bellurgan Park. The conditions were very tough as it rained throughout the competition and the course after the first few races was very muddy.
The U16 girls were clear winners over St Senan’s from Kilkenny, with Tullamore on 59 points compared to 92 for the nearest rival. Niamh Garvey led the girls home in fourth place but Tullamore had, in fact, seven runners home in the first 24 across the line.
The Harriers girls also combined to win silver county medals having just been pipped for the county title by a strong Kilkenny squad.
Individual medals were awarded to all top twelve finishers. For Tullamore Harriers, Matilda Cusack (9th), James Hynes (2nd), Niamh Garvey (4th), Luke Mahon (6th), Luke Duffy (5th), Jack Donegan and Cian Law won individual medals. The U20 men’s team was also on the podium as they gutted it out for bronze medals!
Competing for Tullamore Harriers were the following. U10 Girls: Matilda Cusack, Alice Cunningham, Samantha Corbett, Iseult Lawlor.
U10 Boys: James Hynes, Tomás McDonagh.
U12 Girls: Emily Morris, Niamh McDonagh.
U12 Boys: Ben Kirwan, Joe Daly.
U14 Girls: Monika Stopka, Maeve Duffy, Mia Gallagher, Elise Cusack, Evelyn Daly.
U14 Boys: Darragh Stewart, Darragh Monaghan, Conor Murtagh, Patrick Duffy, Thomas Weir, Jack Cunningham.
U16 Girls: Niamh Garvey, Eabhadh Multaney Kelly, Kara Daly, Aoibhe Moore, Saoirse Murtagh, Polly Duffy, Andrea Ryan.
U16 Boys: Luke Mahon.
U18/U20 Girls: Emily Cunningham, Jane Maher, Aisling Cotter. U18/U20 Men: Jack Donegan, Cian Law, Luke Duffy, Jack Saunders.
Leinster Novice Cross Country
The first Leinster cross country championship event for the 2022/2023 season was held in Dundalk, Co. Louth on Sunday. There was a very miserable start to the day with torrential rain drenching the course in Bellurgan Park, resulting in all athletes having difficult running conditions to contend with.
Following the juvenile races, the novice ladies lined out. At this stage the rain had stopped and there was some sunshine to distract them from the worsening underfoot conditions.
The course was very tacky and made for very challenging running for even the most experienced cross country runners. The ladies covered a distance of 4000m with Sarah Flanagan leading her teammates from the gun and finishing a very impressive 8th place overall. Sarah, a relatively newcomer to the club, has shown huge promise especially in cross country running.
Next for Tullamore Harriers was Nita McLoughlin (31st) followed by Evelyn Herlihy (38th), Lynn Mooney (53rd) and Rita Daly (59th) leaving the ladies in 6th overall club and 4th overall county placings.
The Novice Men's race was the final race of the day with Michael Murphy running a blistering race but unfortunately just missing a medal with his 4th place finish. Michael is in super running form of late.
Chinnie Izuchukwu (33rd) was next for Tullamore followed by Barry Mooney (40th), Cian Martin (58th) Darragh Carroll (62nd), Liam Byrne (95th), Alan Mitchell (101), Sean Reynolds (108th) and Jason McDermott 110th). The lads were 5th club and 7th country overall. Well done everyone on a very tough day all round.