Santry Demense hosted the Dublin Uneven championships earlier today in very pleasant conditions. Congratulations to AmyRose Farrell and Pappy Tucker who took fine individual honours and they were accompanied by 4 !!! team titles in the girls & boys U9 and U11’s and a runners up spot for the boys U13’s.

The Girls U9’s were first up and set the standard for the day with top 10 performances from Libby O’Gorman (4th place) and Annalie McMahon (8th place) and with fine showings from Grace Cleary, Grace O’Connor, Alexander Maher, Shayna Crowley and Aine O’Neill. Well done to the girls.

The Boys U9’s were also in flying form and bunched well in what was a very strong team performance with Sean O’Riagain (6th place), Luke Moraghan (7th place), Matty Keane (8th place) and Daniel Schwer (9th place). Once again they were ably supported by Jack Fairmaner, Oisin O’Shea, Alex Connaughton, Donal Martin, Luke Mason and Niall McCarthy. Great teamwork from the boys.

The Girls U11’s ran a stormer with Isabel O’Brien, Sarah O’Brien and Simone Towns all running strong and finishing in the top 12. The winning team was completed by Natasha Rolland, Lucy Schwer, Abby Connaughton, Amy McGoldrick and Kate Giblin. Well done girls.Issy, Sarah and Simone will now go on to represent Dublin as well as leading the  BAC team at the Nationals back in Santry on December 7th.

And then to the boys U11’s…..A great race and once again a fine showing in very strong competition from the other Dublin clubs. Ciaran Patchell and Louis Dignam raced home to Top 10 finishes with Doug Walshe, Oliver Coffey, Patrick O’Donnell, Alex Mason, Harry Casey, Lorcan Martin and Tom Cosgrove completing the victorious team. Ciaran and Louis will now represent Dublin at the Nationals as well as leading the club team.

Well done to all four teams. Wave after wave of Blackrock colours on show in those four races.

Sarah Flaherty was our lone runner in the U13’s and turned in another fine performance. She continues to make great “strides” in the middle distance events. Well done Sarah.

Pappy Tucker made a strong move mid way through the third lap and never looked back as he stormed to victory to claim yet another individual Dublin title. Definitely an athlete for the big occasion. Dara Purcell, running his first race for the club in over 8 months, took an exceptional 6th place finish with Evan Walshe just run out of a top 12 and the team was completed by Sean Purcell & Tom McCarthy (both running up a year) and Sebastian Condon who came straight from a rugby match!! Well done to the lads on achieving a very brave and satisfactory silver team position and congrats again to Pappy.Pappy and Dara will be part of the Dublin team at the Nationals and will be alongside the others for the Blackrock team.

Padraig Purcell was also back in club colours for the first time in almost 12 months and made light work of qualification in the Boys U15 3500m with a 4th place finish. He was carrying a small injury in to the race but showed his all round sporting talent to easily qualify for the Nationals. Oisin Kelly and Mika Ryan were also running and found the going tough but again dug deep to produce fine individual performances.

And so to the girls U15 race where AmyRose (who was running in only her third race for the club) had a bunch of DSD athletes for company as the front runners breezed through the first 2000m with little fuss. Back in the main bunch Lina Kyne was running her fourth race in as many weeks and also up an age group. On the third lap Abi Taylor and Jodie McCann (both DSD) took up the running with AmyRose tracking their every move and with just over 400m to go she made her break to clinch a great victory in front of a very vocal Blackrock AC crowd. Well done AmyRose on an outstanding performance and of course she will part of the Dublin squad for the Nationals.

Pictures of today’s races are available here

So that brings the curtains down on another successful XC County championships. A big congratulations to all our athletes who competed over the last two weeks, also a big thanks to their supporters and a special mention for the coaches who I know will be very happy with their group’s progress.

Next up is the AIT Indoor Multi event on November 16th and for more information on participation please email blackrockac@gmail.com