Glenmore secure impressive team gold at Louth Juvenile Cross Country Championships

St Peters AC were the host club and the home of Louth GAA, the Centre of Excellence in Darver, was the venue for Louth Cross Country Uneven Age Championships for 2022.

With the weather predicted to take a turn for the worst, the Glenmore athletes were well prepared by their coaches to perform in any conditions.

The non-championship U8 race gave Aidan Galligan and Cian O’Reilly another chance to try out cross country running and both boys built on their medal collections, finishing well up the field.

First up in the championship races were the U9 girls and Aoibheann Finnegan finished very strongly to claim 6th place and a top 10 medal, followed closely by Erin Hughes and Sarah Cranny.

In the boys U9 event Ethan Kane set a blistering pace to lead the field and secured a very well-deserved 5th place and a top 10 medal, followed by Alex McGovern Gracey, Jamie Kane, Adam McDonald and Jack O’Neill who all packed in very well.

There were no team prizes on offer for the U9 runners, with the first 10 individuals being awarded medals.

North East Runners secure double team gold at Louth Cross Country Championships

Inside Track: A Louthman refereed the 1928 All-Ireland final

The U11 girls ran a full lap of the 1500m course with Sarah Devane putting on a great performance to finish 6th with Caoimhe Galligan and Una O’Reilly running very well out of age.

The boys U11 race saw the well fancied Glenmore team go out all guns blazing with Patrick Duffy securing his 1st cross country gold after making all the running, followed by Dylan Murphy in 2nd place and Ethan Nicholas in 4th place. Conor Finnegan ran up an age in 11th place to secure 1st prize in the team event.

Aaron Finnegan, Darragh Ryan and Owen McGrath finished in quick succession behind the boys to show the strength and depth of this Glenmore team.

The girls U13 team were out in force, running a testing 2500m. Meabh Walsh followed her 2nd place last week with a 4th place finish, running up an age and was followed in by Zoe White in 7th, Aoife McDonald in 12th and Gillian Tuohy in 13th to secure 3rd team place.

Saoirse Murphy, Caoimhe Gaskin, Aisling McGarrity, Niamh Cranny and Aoife O’Reilly also ran really for team Glenmore, especially given the conditions became testing in the inclement weather.

The last Glenmore AC entrant of the day was Elliot Nicholas, who ran a brave race in the boys U15 event to make a break from the group he was running with, thus securing a well-deserved 3rd place finish.  

All in all, another good day for Glenmore AC, with everyone looking forward to the Leinster even age races to be held in Bellurgan Park on Sunday October 23rd.