There was a computer glitch with AAI and we NOW have the updated results from Adamstown last weekend…
More photos in the Adamstown Gallery
Adamstown AC- Co Wexford, hosted the final Juvenile Inter County Cross Country event of the year and our athletes performed very well on the day. Sarah Healy and Natasha Twoomey were once again in the news and in a humdinger of a girls U’13 race but more about them a little later in this report.
As we left the “mudfest” of Tattersalls behind, we were treated to a calm and pleasant day with an excellent fast running course in superb condition. The arena made for some outstanding performances including those from BAC.
Aoife Linnane was first up on the day with a tremendous effort in the girls U’11 1500m. She finished in 38th place but placed well for both Dublin teams (Scoring 5th on the team) and who have been upgraded from 4th to 3rd place in the Inter County and Regional competitions. This is a great result for Aoife who has showed continuous improvement over the last 4 months and should be extremely happy with her performance and this belated good news. Well done Aoife.
It was then the turn of Evan Walshe, who was coming in to these championships in good form. The race started at a pulsating pace and the field was splintered very early on with Evan tucked in nicely behind the leading group. As the race developed he held his form to eventually finish in 23rd place. This was a great performance and a fantastic learning curve for Evan at his first Cross Country All Ireland’s. At the time of press it looked like Evan and his Dublin team mates had just missed out on the medals finishing in 4th place. Well done Evan on what has been a great 2012 and has treated us to some exciting races on both the track and cross country.
Sean Kinsella has represented BAC with distinction over the last three years and once again he can be very proud of his race. The boys Under 13’s had some of Ireland’s leading young athletes on show and the pace was more akin to an All Ireland 800m final as the field got to grips with the scintillating start. He ran very steady and scored well for Dublin who were unfortunately out of the medals.
And then to Sarah and Natasha- the training partners were raring to go and knew that a good race would not only have them in a fine position individually, but also with the Dublin inter county and regional teams. Natasha was involved early on in setting a high tempo with Sarah and most of the other favourites been brought along as six athletes began to assert their authority on proceedings. The first 1000 metres saw the lead changing hands on numerous occasions with the BAC girls comfortable in their surroundings and they were joined by Jodie McCann of DSD and Alex O’Neill of St Cronan’s from Clare at the head of the pack. Sarah, fresh from her victory in Tattersalls two weeks ago, took up the challenge with 700 metres to go alongside McCann and O’Neill with Natasha and another pre-race favourite Amy Clarke from Leinster hanging on. The front three were almost stride for stride as they came to the only hill on the course but as Alex O’Neill started to make her move Sarah reacted and moved into sole position of second and closing the gap as they entered the final strait. Alas, it was just a little too much for her to make up but in finishing second she once again confirmed her outstanding ability on this stage. Sarah’s performance is all the more impressive as she qualifies for this age group again next year!! Meanwhile Natasha was in a tussle to grab 4th place losing out narrowly in the end but this was one hell of a gutsy run from an athlete who only joined us in May of this year. A fantastic result for Natasha. Both girls can be extremely proud of their performances and they were part of the Dublin Team that swept all aside in securing Team golds in both the Inter County and Provincial titles. Well done girls.
So that’s it- It’s been a roller coaster Cross Country season with some outstanding performances in the Leagues, Dublin County’s and All Ireland’s.
Well done to everyone involved and most of all to the athletes who have given all of us so much pleasure, highs and lows and most of all honest endeavour and togetherness over the last four months.
