National Uneven Age Juvenile & Novice

The final event of the National Cross Country season took place today at the National Sports Campus, Abbotstown, Co. Dublin. The Uneven Age Juvenile races kicked off the day starting with the U11’s 1500m. One big loop was the distance for the U11’s and Kilkenny had a county team, with athletes from Thomastown, Castlecomer, Kilkenny City Harriers, St. Senan’s and Gowran all running on the day. Castlecomer also had a club team that qualified from the Leinster’s in Kilbeggan last month. Luke Hanlon TT just missed out on a medal finishing in 13^th place, but his fantastic run saw him the 4^th scorer on the Leinster team that took the gold. Luke was also the 1^st home on the county that came in 9^th. Castlecomer boys finished 14^th in the club event, with 4 of their athletes still U10 and eligible to run again next year U11.

In the Girls U13 race, Gowran had a club team and Kilkenny a county team that qualified from Leinster’s to run in the 2500m race. The Gowran team was the most successful Kilkenny club team on the day winning bronze with Orla O’Keeffe, Abigail Hunt, Lydia Phelan and Sarah Mulrooney scoring for the club. Sinead Grant SS, Kate Kelly KCH, and Emily Nevin SJ made up the county team that finished in 10^th place.

Kilkenny City Harriers had a club team in the Boys U13 event and again there was a good county team representing Kilkenny, with athletes from Kilkenny City Harriers, Gowran, and Barrow Harriers running for the county. In a strong stacked race that saw 173 runners take to the start line for another tough race through the muddy course, everyone ran great with the county team finished in 13^th, and the Kilkenny City Harriers club team placing 16^th overall.

The Kilkenny City Harriers club team were the only runners from Kilkenny in the Girls U15 3500m race. While the club team were unlucky not to medal finishing in 6^th place overall, strong performances from Katie Byrne and Emily O’Keeffe saw them score in 5^th and 6^th place on the Leinster team to secure themselves a gold provincial medal.

In the Boys U15 Daniel Greene fresh from his National win in Derry two weeks ago had another strong race up in age this time to finish in 8^th place. Daniel was the 2^nd scorer on the Leinster team that placed 4^th. Sam Woodcock KCH also had a fine run up in age to finish in 42^nd place.

Sinead Cormack of Kilkenny City Harriers once again took home some silverware as she ran in 12^th place to secure another National bronze medal. Sinead’s strong run also saw her finish as 2^nd scorer on the Leinster team and claim a bronze provincial medal on the day too.

By the time the Boys U17 athletes took to the start line, the downpours were getting heavier and the winds had certainly picked up making the course even tougher to contend with. This was the 8^th race on the outer loop so the course was really starting to give way to the mud and very slippery conditions for the athletes to wrestle with. Kyrell Mtinsi Kilkenny City Harriers, Conor Carroll Gowran and Lewis Morgan St. Senan’s all had good runs, with Kyrell the 3^rd scorer on the Leinster team that finished in 4^th place.

Charlotte Carpendale St. Senan’s was the first home in the Girls U19 5000m for Kilkenny that placed 6^th, with Hazel Coogan Kilkenny City Harriers, Eimear Cormack Kilkenny City Harriers and Caoimhe Barry St. Joseph’s making up the county team.         

Tom Murphy Kilkenny City Harriers was in action in the Boys U19 and ran a good solid race placing 40^th out of the 87 finishers, in a great time of 19:06 for the 5000m race.

Callum Barron had an incredible run over the 6000m on a course that definitely suited his running, to clinch the Men’s National Novice title. In his post race interview Callum described how it has been a good season for him and he is delighted to finish it off with a great win. Despite losing a spike after he broke free from the pack, Callum maintained his composure and stormed to a great finish to take the National honours. Callum led the county team home with Joe Keohane Gowran, James Kelly Castlcomer, Michael O’Keeffe Thomastown, Matthew Holland Gowran and Tadhg Ryan all making up the team that finished 4^th overall.   

Full results from All-Irelands

Boys U11 (County Team 9^th) Club Team Castlecomer 14^th

13^th Luke Hanlon TT*, 40^th Rhys Hetherington CC*, 68^th Huw Morgan SS*, 99^th Diarmuid Maher CC*, 107^th Cian Nolan CC*, 125^th Patrick Comerford CC*, 133^rd Oisin Fogarty, 139^th Alex O’Donovan KCH, 158^th Ethan Maher KCH, 164^th Conor Maher G

Leinster Team 1^st Luke Hanlon (4^th)

Girls U13 (County Team 10^th *) Club Team Gowran 3^rd

16^th Orla O’Keeffe G*, 21^st Abigail Hunt G*, 54^th Lydia Phelan G*, 74^th Sinead Grant SS*, 103^rd Kate Kelly KCH*, 116^th Emily Nevin SJ*,123^rd Sarah Mulrooney G, 129^th Kate Malone CC,130^th Ella O’Flaherty KCH,134^th Emma Brennan BH, 135^th Ella Burke KCH, 184^th Robyn Goodwin G

Boys U13 (County Team 13^th) Club Team Kilkenny City Harriers 16^th

76^th Daniel Quinn KCH*, 85^th Daniel McIntyre KCH*, 110^th Cian Shortall G*, 134^th Eoin Hoyne *, 135^th Dylan Guilfoyle KCH*, 140^th Cillian Andrews* 141^st Harry O’Byrne BH, 155^th Brandon Maher KCH, 162^nd Lachlann Halpin BH,

Girls U15 Club Team Kilkenny City Harriers 6^th

25^th Katie Byrne KCH, 28^th Emily O’Keeffe KCH, 75^th Amelia O’Brien KCH, 107^th Heidi Ryan KCH, 116^th Maria Kraljevic KCH

Leinster Team 1^st Katie Byrne (5^th) and Emily O’Keeffe (6^th)

Boys U15

8^th Daniel Greene KCH, 42^nd Sam Woodcock KCH,

Leinster Team 4^th Daniel Greene (2^nd)

Girls U17

12^th Sinead Cormack KCH

Leinster Team 3^rd Sinead Cormack (2^nd)

Boys U17

20^th Kyrell Mtinsi KCH, 49^th Conor Carroll G, 72^nd Lewis Morgan SS

Leinster Team 4^th Kyrell Mtinsi (3^rd)

Girls U19 (County Team 6^th)

28^th Charlotte Carpendale SS, 43^rd Hazel Coogan KCH, 51^st Eimear Cormack KCH, 54^th Caoimhe Barry KCH, 61^st Maeve Coyle Twomey CC,

Boys U19

40^th Tom Murphy Kilkenny City Harriers  

Novice Men (County Team 4^th*) Club Team Gowran 12^th 1^st Callum Barron KCH*, 41^st Joe Keohane Gowran*, 43^rd James Kelly Castlecomer*, Michael O’Keeffe Thomastown*, 67^th Matthew Holland *, 102^nd Tadhg Ryan Thomastown, 105^th John Coady Gowran, 111^th Sean Morrissey Gowran, 139^th Paddy Kelly KCH,