ATHLETICS | Seven-up for St Peter’s at Leinster Championships in Wexford
Dromiskin club fare really well in U11 races
St Peter’s AC athletes enjoyed a very successful road trip to Adamstown in Co Wexford for the uneven age group Leinster Championships on Sunday
Although the journey to the south-east was long, the road home seemed a lot shorter with no fewer than seven championship medals accompanying the athletes home.
The club had members competing in both the boys and girls U11 and U13 races with the best performances coming in the U11 events where the club had individual medalists in both the boys and girls section.
Dearbhla Allen has developed into a fine athlete this year and once again produced the goods, working her way through the large field of athletes and through the mud to finish in 10th place. She was also part of the Louth team that finished third, collecting a team bronze medal for her efforts.
Harry O’Reilly then powered through a very competitive field in the boys U11 races to finish strongly and win a well deserved individual medal for finishing in seventh place. As well as that, Harry was also part of the Louth team that finished third to collect his second medal of the day.
Ben McKeown got his reward for his hard work and dedication to training by taking his place on the Louth team to win his first provincial medal.
Elsewhere, Ruairi Carpenter, competing in his first Leinster Championship, ran very bravely and will have learned valuable experience as he can still run at U11 level next year again.
The boys U13 race was also a successful event for the Wee County as the Louth team finished in third place with two St Peter’s athletes in the team of six.
Seán Allen led the St Peter’s charge with a very brave run — his best run for a long time — to be the third scorer on the Louth team and was joined by Cian Gorham, who was the fourth team scorer.
After looking to be totally out of contention at the halfway point, Cian put in some great work on the second half of the course and showed great resilience to fight his way back. The Louth team finished in third place, enough to earn the boys some well deserved bronze team medals.
Mark Litchfield, who has also had a brilliant season, was desperately unlucky not to medal on the Louth team after recently recovered from injury.
Mark’s brother, Conor, also ran the very testing course, moving up an age and gained great experience from doing so. Dean Murtagh also took part but was unfortunate to go over on an ankle and had to withdraw at the halfway point.
St Peter’s was also represented in the girls U13 race and although none of the girls managed to medal it was great to see the club singlet being worn with pride by the six girls who took part.
Niamh Brady led the team charge, closely followed by Lucy Smyth and Julie McLoughlin. Ellie Smyth, Isabeal Fitzpatrick and Judith Bell also ran very well and all six will reap the benefits of the cross country season when they return to the track in the new year.
Before you go…
If you found this article helpful, click the 👏 button below or share the article on Facebook so your friends can benefit from it too.