Galway athletes make their mark in cross country championships

IT was an excellent day for Galway athletes at the All-Ireland Uneven and Novice Cross Country Championships held in arctic conditions in Santry Demesne in Dublin on Sunday last, with three bronze medals being secured.

Jamie Fallon won a fine individual bronze medal in the U19 boys event for Craughwell AC. Running with the leading pack all the way, Fallon showed great composure to earn a well deserved medal as his rise through the ranks continues.

This result means he is selected for Ireland for the Celtic Games event to be held in January 2015. In the same U19 race, Fallon’s clubmate Damien O’Boyle had a strong run to take 24th place, Eoin Lyons GCH was a solid 34th, and Conor Gillen continued his comeback from injury to take 52nd place. In the U19 girls 4000m, Ciara Greene had an encopuraging run out-of-age to take 28th position.

A hugely talented Galway ladies team captured the bronze novice at county level – courtesy of GCH athletes Barbara Dunne, Alvy Carragher, Niamh Hennelly, and Catherine Thornton, a Spiddal native now running for Crusaders in Dublin.

Dunne had an incredible run in her first ever cross country race, coming home eighth and moving strongly through the field over the 4km circuit. She was followed in by Carragher 16th, Thornton in 21st, and Hennelly in 31st. GCH ladies also took club team bronze, with Helen Corbett the fourth club scorer.

In the highly competitive final event of the day, the Novice Men’s 6000m, John Greaney of GCH was first Galway runner home in 25th place. Craughwell’s Neil Greaney and Rob Hogan also had good runs to finish as 2nd and 4th Galway athletes home, with Neil taking 41st place in a time of 22:06 and Rob not far behind in 65th place in 22:27.

They were split by with Vincent McGuinness, Crusaders AC, third scorer for Galway in 44th while Keith Fallon and John Moroney, GCH, also counted as Galway team scorers.

At Juvenile level, there were numerous Galway athletes competing. Ava Mckeon of Ballinasloe was first Galway runner home at U 11 level, in 14th place. The GCH U11 team did well, finishing 13th, while Emma Moore in 19th was first of the GCH athletes home, just ahead of third Galway athlete Maebh Walsh of Corrib AC in 20th.

The Craughwell AC U11 girls’ team was placed 10th, led by a strong run from Caoimhe Connolly in 49th place, followed by Emily Miskella in 59th, Rebekah Flynn 62nd, Aoibhe Carr in 96th, Jade Moorhead in 124th and Saoirse Moore in 144th.

In the U11 boys 1500m, Craughwell AC’s Adam Stewart was the star of the show with a 13th place finish. Conor Harley of Ballinasloe and District was next for Galway in 24th place, and Shane Fitzpatrick 35th, while the Craughwell boys team were 12th overall.

At U13 girls level, Galway county were 13th, led home by Kara McCleane in 62nd, with the Craughwell’s girls team placed 16th, led home by Ailbhe Miskella in 86th place with Sarah Woods 134th, Mia Waters 145th and Aoife Kelly 155th.

In the U13 boys’ race, Craughwell’s team finished 7th and Sean Connaughton had a tremendous run to take 22nd place overall. Gavin Lee was next home in 54th place followed by Liam Leen 68th, Sean Cotter 69th, Sean Cannon 94th and Finbar McFadden 127th.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.