By Dara Kennedy

Cross Country Relays:

Last weekend saw 5 juvenile relay teams from two Tipperary clubs to Abbotstown in Dublin to contest the National Juvenile Cross Country Relay Championships. Ran alongside the highly contested Autumn Open International Cross Country, the best juvenile club teams in the country did battle for the National honours. 

Before the commencement of the Juvenile programme, all eyes were on the Mixed Senior 4x1500m Cross Country who got proceedings underway in testing conditions. Clubs like DSD, Ennis Track, DCH and our own Nenagh Olympic all toeing the line eying up the National title! Interestingly, gender preference was up to each club and the Nenagh quartet set up their team with Cian Hodgins leading the charge with the other teams starting with their female athlete. Cian opened up a substantial lead passing the baton to Aoife Delargy who was under immense pressure to try hold her nerve as the likes of DCH and International star Pierre Murchan  closed in on Aoife in the last 400m of the leg, Aoife kept on to pass off the baton to Jennifer O’ Leary who ran a brilliant leg and passed the baton onto James Tanner who was tasked with the final leg and bring the baton home. The team performed extremely well and were rewarded with a richly deserved bronze. Congratulations to the team involved.

In the first juvenile race of the day, Girls U11, Moyne AC put in a terrific performance storming to a 5th place finish. The team was made up of Poppy Shanahan, Aoibheann Doyle, Quinn Corbett, Grace Cantwell and Daisy Lyon’s. 

Following up their U11 Girls performance, the Moyne U13 Girls team then took to the track to finish in 19th place overall. The team consisted of Faye Corbett, Doireann Quinlan, Maebh O’Shea and Sophie Hughes. 

The Boys U13 race saw Templemore AC claim a place on a National podium following a 3rd place finish. A national club team medal speaks volume to the strength that this team consists of. The members of the team were John Maher, Cian Cowan, Eoghan Slevin and Luke Kavanagh. 

The last few years has seen the concept of a mixed relay soar to popularity thanks to the performances of the National Senior team so it was great to see these types races featured at the weekend also. The Moyne AC Mixed U12 team put in a strong performance to finish in 14th place while the U14 team performed well to claim 23rd place. The U12 team was made up of Darragh Joyce, Tom O’Shea, Meadhbh Hall and Annie Ely while the U14 team consisted of James Ryan, Matthew Edmond’s, Abbie Manson and Saoirse Joyce. 

Attention now turns to the highly anticipated County Juvenile Uneven Age Championships next weekend in Twomileborris.