The East Cork Cross Country Championships for Uneven Age Juveniles and Senior Men & Women was hosted by our club, St Catherines AC, last Sunday.
It is a great honour for our club and community to be hosts to these championships. It is to the credit of the club officials and the assistance and support of the club members that we are able to manage such a prestigious sporting occasion. The event was held on the lands of Frank Hayes yet again and the new course was in superb condition for a great day’s racing.
Our juveniles excelled and we ended up with fistfuls of medals.
Our under 10s raced over a 1,000 metre course and Mary Jane Casey led the field home closely followed by Ciara O’Connell in second place. Teammates Sienna, Aoife and Sophie O’Connor combined well enough for the team to finish second overall and win silver medals.
The under 10 boys had a similar race. Alex Keane had a superb race to finish second, closely chased home by Eoin Ronayne in third spot. Their teammates Oisin Feeney, Adam and Cillian Fitzgerald, Colm Geary, Tomas Kiely and Ciaran O’Connor packed well and the team finished second overall. Well done to all the under 10s and their coaches.
The under 12s girls race was over 1,500 metre and Aimee Kearney led from the start to the finish, putting on a masterful display. Lara Byrne put on a great performance finishing in the top ten.
In the boys under 12s, we had yet another outstanding performance by our club runners. Conor Ronayne and Kenneth O’Connell took off from the start and put some distance into their rivals. Conor came home in first place, followed by Kenneth in second. Oscar Cunningham finished in the top ten, followed by Bill Leahy, James Geary, Zack Pyne, Noah Keane and Adam O’Connor. Great stuff lads. Ye deserved your team gold medals. Brilliant stuff!
The under 14 girls team of Charlotte Norman, Ciara Hayes, Amy O’Connell and Maebh O’Connell tackled the 2,000 metre course in fine fettle and combined very well to finish third team overall to secure prized bronze medals.
In the boys race, Darragh Ronayne was always at the front and ran a fine tactical race to finish second. James O’Connor had a great second lap and finished strongly coming home in fifth place.
The girls under-16s were Sadie Linehan and Ella O’Connor. They were both running two laps of the course and finished comfortably.
In the boys race, Conor Hayes was racing against his great rival and friend, Aidan Maher from Carrignavar and this time Aidan won the duel, leaving Conor in second place. Cian Dunning came home a mighty fourth and Charlie Nicholson was the third boy home, securing a team prize for third place overall.
That is nine individual medals, 3 Golds, 6 silvers and a bronze and 5 team medals if my counting is correct. Stand back and take a bow, boys and girls. Brilliant display!
Our Ladies and Men also raced and Sarah Mulcahy , who came fourth overall, Ann Geary and Catherine Clancy performed well enough to finish third team overall in the Senior race, over the 4,500 metre course. Great achievement.
The Senior mens team of Keith Barry, Chris O’Connell, John Mulcahy , Brendan Hickey, Kevin Hayes, Kieran Harte and Kieran Murphy also combined very effectively to secure senior team third prize . Keith, Chris, Brendan and Kevin also won first place in the over 45 category team prize. Sorry for giving away that information lads. Most of the kids think you’re only 34 or 35!
Fantastic achievement to all of the athletes for making this such a special day.

Hope to see you all at the County Cork Championships, which are being held in Riverstick on the 26th.