Leinster Even Age & Novice

Leinster athletics returned once again to Gowran Park for the Leinster Juvenile Even age and Novice Cross Country Championships. Unfortunately, the weather this year was not as autumnal as last year, when Gowran AC hosted the same event under sunny skies and fresh autumn air. The set up the previous Saturday by Gowran and County Board officials was executed promptly before the weather warnings and storms hit. The course took a battering in the week leading up to the event, with extra barriers, stakes and reinforced roping works still going on late Friday evening and early Saturday morning to secure the course for the 12 races that took place throughout Saturday. The continuous rain and strong winds didn’t deter any runners with exceptional numbers taking to the start line for the non-championship U10 girls and boys races. Each athlete was presented with a medal for their gallant efforts over the 1000m, well earned in tough wet conditions. The U12 girls had the highest numbers of runners with 139 athletes from Leinster competing for the precious top 12 spots that are rewarded at these provincial events. Like all cross country events, every position over the finish line counts, as teams battle it out for club and county team places at Nationals in November.  The top 4 clubs go through to Nationals along with the top three county teams from each race too. There were some excellent performances across all age group with individual medals in most races. Only one juvenile club team and county team both in the U14 Girls made it through to Nationals unfortunately, but 9 runners finishing in the top 12 won medals. Cara Burke KCH was the first to medal finishing in 9^th in the Girls U12 2000m. In the Boys U12 2000m both Huw Morgan St. Senan’s and Rhys Hetherington Castlecomer secured their spot for Nationals Huw placing 7^th and Rhys taking the last spot in 12^th. The Castlecomer team were 5^th and just one spot away from qualifying. Abigail Hunt Gowran continued with her impressive form we saw at Counties finishing in 4^th place in the Girls U14 3000m. Abigial led the county team home to 4^th place, and a trip to Nationals for Sinead Grant St. Senan’s, Emily Maher Thomastown, Orla O’Keeffe KCH, Kate Kelly KCH and Maeve O’Shea KCH. The KCH team qualified in 4^th with Lucy O’Connell 4^th scorer on the team. In the Girls U16 4000m Amelia O’Brien was the only athlete to secure a medal, finishing 9^th and first home for the club which placed 5^th and misses out on Nationals. Daniel Greene KCH who was running up in age claimed 4^th spot in the Boys U16 4000, finishing in 4^th place and qualifying for next month. As standard both the U18 and U20 ages were run together. Sinead Cormack KCH race a brilliant race from the start to clinch the top spot overall and win a gold medal for tremendous efforts. Kyrell Mtinsi KCH was 2^nd across the finish line in the Boys u18 with Conor Carroll Gowran finishing in 9^th to also qualify with top 12 placing. In the Novice Women’s Elenor Godden KCH was the first women home in the 4000m and led the county team to 2^nd place, with Katie O’Brien Gowran, Camilla Azevedo Gowran and Lean Ni Chiobhan St. Joseph’s making up the county team. Kilkenny City Harriers took 3^rd in the team event, Eleanor, Tara Brett, Caoilfhionn Ni Argain and Katie Mattews completing the team. The Men’s 6000m was the last race and the wind was starting to take off, with conditions underfoot getting very soft in places from previous races and crossing points. Kilkenny had athletes from 5 clubs running on the day with success in both county and club just like the Women’s. John Behan KCH was first home for the county in 10^th, leading the county and his club to medals, Eamonn O’Connor KCH, Eoin Aylward St. Senan’s, Dean Rowe KCH, Joe Bergin Nuenna and Tadhg Ryan Thomastown all making up the team. KCH took 2^nd in the club category, with 84 points just 4 behind 1^st place winners Mullingar Harriers and 3 points ahead of 3^rd Raheny Shamrocks.

Congratulations to all who qualified for Nationals, with the Leinster Uneven ages and Senior events coming up in two weeks time in the Curragh, it will be another opportunity for the athletes to compete and for more success. A massive thank you to the County Board and club volunteers in set up and on the day itself. A huge thank you to Gowran Racecourse and Gowran AC for hosting another great Leinster Cross Country Championship.

BH: Barrow Harriers, CC: Castlecomer, G: Gowran, KCH: Kilkenny City Harriers, Nu: Nuenna, SJ: St. Joseph’s, SS: St. Senan’s, TT: Thomastown

Girls U12

7^th Cara Burke KCH, 23^rd Lauren Malone CC, 31^st Pippa Minogue TT, 33^rd Ava Ledingham KCH, 48^th Amy Phelan G, 54^th Emma Hayden G, 61^st Winter Rose Molloy KCH,66^th Aoibhe Dooley TT, 67^th Lauren Maher, 68^th Sofia Kaur Chanal KCH, 69^th Isabelle Hoyne KCH, 70^th Aoife O’Keeffe G, 78^th Emily O’Keeffe KCH, 92th Beth-Anne Doyle SS, 96^th Katie Kelly SS, 98^th Sienna Harrison SS, 109^th Jill Murphy BH, 112^th Meabh Nolan G, 121^st Saoirse Walsh SS, 122^nd Erin Hennessy SS, 127^th Niamh Kehoe SJ,131^st Emma Power SS,  132^nd Doireann Convery G,

Club Teams: 7^th Kilkenny City Harriers, 12^th Gowran, 15^th St. Senan’s

County Team: 7^th

Boys U12

7^th Huw Morgan SS, 12^th Rhys Hetherington CC, 17^th Luke Hanlon TT, 26^th Diarmuid Maher CC, 35^th Alex O’Donovan KCH, 40^th Liam Holohan TT, 50^th Matthew Fennelly TT, 51^st Tom Pollock G, 53^rd Sam Minogue TT, 59^th Daire O’Shea KCH, 62^nd Oisin Fogarty CC, 79^th Ethan Maher KCH, 80^th Harry O’Regan G, 82^nd Conor Maher G, 83^rd Patrick Comerford CC, 86^th Patrick Collins KCH, 94^th Con O’Farrell G, 98^th Thomas Hunt G, 108^th Sean Leadbetter TT,

Club Team: 5^th Castlecomer, 6^th Thomastown, 10^th Kilkenny City Harriers, 11^th Gowran

County 4^th

Girls U14

4^th Abigail Hunt G, 13^th Sinead Grant SS, 17^th Emily Maher TT, 22^nd Orla O’Keeffe KCH, 23^rd Kate Kelly KCH  27^th Maeve O’Shea KCH, 36^th Lydia Phelan G, 41^st Emma Brennan BH, 60^th Lucy O’Connell KCH, 61^st Casey Cleere KCH, 62^nd Kate Malone CC, 72^nd Emily Nevin SJ, 81^st Sarah Mulrroney G, 84^th Grace Grant SS, 87^th Millie Walsh, 88^th Roisin Corrigan, 91^st Grace O’Shea KCH, 103^rd Lora Krchnak, 106^th Kiera McEvoy BH,

Club Teams: 4^th Kilkenny City Harriers, 7^th Gowran, 10^th St. Senan’s

County Team 2^nd

Boys U14

18^th Eoghan Buckley KCH, 32^nd Daniel McIntyre KCH, 38^th Cian Shortall G, 53^rd Henry Kelly G, 58^th Jay Pollock G, 60^th Cillian Maher KCH, 72^nd Cian Larkin, 77^th Robbie Chandley KCH, 79^th Darragh Glynn G, 82^nd Liam Walsh,

Club Teams: 7^th Kilkenny City Harriers, 9^th Gowran

County: 8^th

Girls U16

9^th Amelia O’Brien KCH, 16^th Katie Byrne KCH, 37^th Alexandrine Fouassier G, 44^th Emily O’Keeffe KCH, 53^rd Laura Aylward SS, 61^st Heidi Ryan KCH, 66^th Ava Hogan SS, 74^th Sophie Callery KCH,

Club teams: 5^th Kilkenny City Harriers

County Team: 6^th

Boys U16

4^th Daniel Greene KCH, 74^th Eoin Galvin SS

Girls U18

1^st Sinead Cormack KCH, 21^st Ellen Cormack KCH, 32^nd Kate Hayden G

Boys U18

2^nd Kyrell Mtinsi KCH, 9^th Conor Carroll G, 21^st Finn O’Neill SS, 29^th Gearoid Farrell G,

Girls U20

8^th Hazel Coogan KCH, 9^th Caoimhe Barry SJ, 12^th Eimear Cormack KCH, 14^th Aine Foley KCH

Club Team 4^th Kilkenny City Harriers

County 6^th

Boys U20

14^th Tom Murphy KCH, 16^th Evan Alyward SS, 24^th Evan Walsh SJ

County Team 4^th

Novice Women:

9^th Elenor Godden KCH, 10^th Katie O’Brien KCH, 14^th Camilla Azevedo G, 16^th Lean Ni Chiobhan SJ, 17^th Tara Brett KCH, 18^th Caoilfhionn Ni Argain KCH, 21^st Katie Matthews KCH, 32^nd Gillian Kavanagh

Club Team 2^nd Kilkenny City Harriers

County Team 2^nd

Novice Men

10^th John Behan KCH, 14^th Eamon O’Conor KCH, 17^th Eoin Aylward SS, 20^th Dean Rowe KCH, 24^th Joe Bergin Nu, 32^nd Tadhg Ryan TT, 38^th Johan Muller G, 40^th Padraig Ruane KCH, 41^st Frederic Gouranc KCH, 48^th Michael Bergin Nu, 56^th Peter Bergin Nu, 63^rd Fintan White Nu, 65^th Paul Mahon G, 73^rd Andrew Lowry Nu, 76^th Patrick Kennedy Nu, 78^th James O’Reilly G, 82^nd Thomas Bowden Nu, 84^th Matt Ryan G

Club teams: 2^nd Kilkenny City Harriers, 8^th Nuenna, 10^th Gowran