Among the thousands of runners competing in the Dublin Marathon last Bank Holiday Monday was a very strong Mayo AC team. In total 21 athletes made up the Mayo AC team which took on the gruelling course across the nationals capital. The senior men’s team consisted of John Byrne, Anthony Devanney, Timmy Glavey, Kevin Mellett, Brendan Gill, Paddy O’Toole and Dave Huane. The men’s o40 team was made up of the trio of Gerry Galvin, Christy O’Malley and Tony Gleeson, while the men’s o50 consisted of PJ Hall, Owen Mongan, Brian Cusack, Tom Hunt and Christy O’Connell. The senior women’s team was made up of Paula Prendergast, Sarah Syron, Anne Fahy, Yvonne Byrne, Anne McDonnell and Anne Shortt. There were a number of excellent performances put in by the Mayo squad and some medals may be wining their way to Mayo once the AAI confirms the team and individual results.
Mayo uneven age cross country championships
The Mayo u9, u11, u13, u15, u17 and u19 Cross Country Championships were held in Swinford last weekend. A large number of athletes travelled to the farm of Billy and Mary McCann to compete. The Mayo Athletics Board would like to thank the McCann family for the use of their facilities to host the event. Thanks also to Swinford Athletic Club ladies committee for providing refreshments to all. Prior to the competition the u9 girls and boys took part in a participation race and were all awarded medals for their brave endeavours.
In the u11 girls’ race Maria Reilly representing Ballina was the winner with Gemma Foody (Claremorris ) second and Maeve Gallagher (Swinford ) third. The team gold went to the Claremorris team. In the boys’ u11 event Patrick Chambers from Westport was the winner with his team-mate Cian McAllister second and Shane Cooke from Castlebar third. Westport took the team prize in this group. The u13 girls competition saw Swinford take gold and bronze with Aisling Forkan the winner and Alice Hynes third, second place went to Derval McNamara from Westport, with Swinford taking the team gold. In the boys u13 event it was another Swinford one - three again, with Shane Bracken finishing in first and David Brady third. Eric Connolly from Ballina broke the Swinford chain coming second. Ballina A won the team gold.
In the u15 girls it was a clean sweep of the medals for the home team with Rosie Hynes, Aoife Mulroy and Orla McCann coming home from first to third respectively and claiming the team gold also. There was more good news for Swinford in the boys u15 with William Hynes home first followed by Jarlath Bell from Claremorris and Swinford’s Tadhy McGinty third. The team gold was claimed by Claremorris. In the u17 girls event Ellen Moran of Westport went home with the gold. She finished ahead of Swinford duo Cliona Mulroy and Aoife McCann in second and third place, however the Swinford girls did take home the team gold for the category. It was a Westport one-two in the boys u17 competition with Con Doherty holding off team-mate Anthony Chambers to win gold, and Ballina’s Hugh Armstrong coming home in third.
The senior ladies event was won by Angela O’Connor, with Derval Devaney second and Jennifer King third. The senior men’s title was won by Westport’s Gerry Kilroy. The Connacht uneven cross country championships will be held in Taughmaconnell, Roscommon, on Saturday November 13 at 1pm.
