A large contingent of Kilkenny athletes made the long journey to Sligo at the weekend to compete in the National inter-county and juvenile cross-country championships.
The races were held in bright sunshine but the course was quite heavy.
In the Senior men’s race, Gowran AC athletes Niall Sheehan and Tommy Evans finished 30th and 40th, respectively. Maria Griffen, St Joseph’s AC, finished 37th in the Senior women’s race.
Bronagh Keirns, St Senan’s AC ran brilliantly in the Girls under-18 to take the bronze medal. Aine Kinsella, St Senan’s AC finished in 14th place – and with Maeve O’ Connor and Laura Walpole of Thomastown AC – secured bronze medals for the county team.
In the Boys under-16 race, once again, Hugh Morgan of St Senan’s AC, had a great race to finish fourth and Sean Power of Thomastown AC finished 19th. Both athletes were silver medal winners on the Leinster team.
In the Girls under-16 race, Rebecca Kennedy of Gowran AC, (28th ), Dervla Keirns of St Senan’s, (34th ) and Lauren Dermody of Castlecomer AC, (42nd ) put in great individual performances.
St Joseph’s AC girls under-14 team , Helen Haynes, Chloe Richardson, Alice O’ Connor and Mia Griffen, ran very well to finish in sixth place. Ailish O’ Shea, Thomastown AC finished 39th. Overall, Kilkenny were the fifth county.
In the Boys under-12 race, David O’ Carroll, Gowran AC had a fantastic race to finish sixth – and along with Conor Clarke (19th ) and Eoin Walsh (37th ) – won silver medals with the Leinster team.
Ruth Kennedy, Gowran AC finished 17th in the Girls under-12 race and Eve Lacey, St Senan’s AC, finished 48th in the same race. The Leinster team won silver.
Full Results will be available on the county athletics website when they become available.
Also at the weekend, Sean Caulfield of St Senan’s AC, was a member of Irish Masters cross-country team that competed in the Home Countries cross-country in Scotland on Saturday. Sean was the fourth scoring athlete on the Masters over-45 team that finished in second place.
