It was a hugely successful Sunday for a host of Laois athletes who braved extremely difficult conditions at the National Cross Country Championships in Derry.
One Laois athlete became an All-Ireland champion while a team also took a gold medal.
And there were a host of fine individual performances from events ranging from U-12 right up to senior.
After a large amount of rainfall in recent weeks it was predicted that the course would be quite wet and this prediction came through.
But that didn’t stop St Abban’s supremo Sinead Fitzpatrick who crossed the line first in the Girls U-14 event.
The Ballinakill native is now the proud holder of two All-Ireland gold medals after her St Abban’s teammates also took top spot in the team event.
The Girls U-14 was a race filled with great drama from the outset with St Abban’s athletes involved throughout.
After winning the Leinster championships some weeks ago, the girls fancied their chances of winning a medal in Derry.
They were to the fore of the race throughout with Sinead Fitpatrick and Bailee Bolton towards the front.
However, a fall on the first lap for Sinead threatened to de-rail her own and the team’s ambitions. Her determination shone through as she gathered herself, worked her way back through the field and claimed gold by nine seconds.
Bailee Bolton, competing out of her age group was next home in 25th, Ellie Knowles soon followed in 39th, Ella Murray was next in 58th and Aoife Lawlor finished out the team.
The girls knew it would be close for the team standings and to everyone’s delight when the scores were calculated they came out victorious by 20 points from Ennis Track in second.
The Laois team finished in fifth overall as St Michael’s duo of Hayley Ryan (24th) and Sadhbh Ni Chomhraidhe also competed.
Fitzpatrick and Bolton also collected a silver medal after the Leinster team finished in second place in the provincial competition.
While the other massive achievement on the day goes to Portlaoise AC athlete Mary Mulhare.
She competed in the Ladies senior event and stormed home in fourth place.
That should be enough to clinch her a spot on the Irish team at the European Cross Country event in Portugal next month.
Laois were well represented in that race with Cheryl Nolan of St Abban’s in 19th while the Ballyroan/Abbeyleix & District pair of Kate (47th) and Breda (55th) McDonald also featured.
The Girls U-12 race got the programme underway with 2Km, which was two laps of the smaller 1Km loop. As always there was huge numbers in the juvenile races.
The St Abban’s girls got out strongly with Ava Brophy and Penelope McMahon very close to each other throughout the race. Kate Kelly also got out strongly and managed her way through the muck well.
Ava led the St Abban’s girl’s home in 36th place with Penelope right behind in 40th. Kate finished further back in 153rd.
In the Boys U-12, Conor Keegan led the St Abban’s lads over the same two laps as the Girls U-12.
The club had six athletes in action in this one after their excellent medal winning performance at the Leinster’s.
On the course each of the lads navigated the tricky corners very well which had already become cut up after just one race. Conor led the team home in 39th place, Rian Bolton was next in 105th, Liam Doyle was close behind in 108th and Sean O Doherty completed the team in 122nd.
Reuben Kelly and Sean McDonald completed the St Abban’s athletes in the Boys U-12, where the team finished in 14th place overall.
The U-14 Boys were in action over 3km. Conditions were becoming increasingly difficult at this stage.
Daire O’Sullivan led the boys team home finishing in 68th position. John Conway was next home in 78th, with Noah Bergin close behind in 86th.
Cathal English, Callum Kenny and Shane Miller completed the team which finished in 16th place.
Laura Ayers was the St Abban’s sole competitor in the U-16 Girls race which was ran over 4000m. Laura had a strong run throughout and came home in 24th place.
This was just ahead of St Michael’s athlete Hannah Luttrell who finished in 30th. These performances were enough to help Leinster to second region overall.
St Michael’s were the only Laois representatives in the U-16 Boys event with Jack Bennett, Nathan Hayes, Cameron Lawrence and Dyan O’Rourke all completing the course.
In the Girls U-18 4500m race, which was ran with the Junior race, Annabelle Lawlor of St Abban’s finished in 46th and Aine Carter in 85th.
Siobhan O’Loughlin, Cara Dooley and Aine O’Loughlin represented St Michael’s while Lucy Shore and Ava Shore ran for Portlaoise.
All girls contributed to the Laois team who finished in 7th County.
The Boys U-18 were next up where the team of Kalem Buggy, Will Duffy Eoin Mulkerrins and Shane Stynes took on the 4500m course for St Abban’s.
The first two Laois men home were Riley Connolly (35th) and Tadhg O Comhraide (56th) for St Michael’s.
Buggy and Duffy were very close together throughout the whole race which saw them finish in 60th and 61st overall.
Gearoid McCann, Dylan Yarrow and Shane Maher also competed for St Michael’s.
St Abban’s finished in 10th place while the Laois team were just outside the medals in 5th.
In the Men’s senior race, Jack McMahon of Ballyroan/Abbeyleix & District was the first Laois man home in 80th position with Stephen Hunter of St Abban’s back in 130th.
SEE ALSO – Laois U-20 HC: The Harps remain on track for four in a row after easing past Abbeyleix
