PICTURES: Success for St. Peters AC at Louth Cross County Championships

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All photos by St. Peters AC

On Sunday last, St Peter’s Athletics Club hosted the Louth Novice and Juvenile Uneven County Cross Country Championships at the Louth GAA Centre of Excellence in Darver.

Both the weather and underfoot conditions were absolutely perfect in what was a fantastic day of cross-country racing.

The host club enjoyed great success and had its biggest ever turnout of athletes at a single event, which is a testament to the large numbers currently attending training.

St Peter’s Club had two athletes claim individual gold with Colm Duff moving up an age to claim the U13 title after a great battle and Dearbhla Allen taking the U19 title in what was her last Louth juvenile Championship race.

The U17 and U19 race are run together this was actually the fourth year in a row that Dearbhla had won this race. Loran Campbell took bronze in the boys U11 race, as did the ever-improving Ella Murphy in the girls U13.

Caroline Campbell also took an individual medal in the girls' U9 nine race. The club also enjoyed great success in the team events, with all six teams taking home medals.

The day started with the adult races, and the club was represented by Nicole Hoey, who acquitted herself very well over the challenging course.

The host club then put on two U8 non-championship races, which were well attended, and St Peter’s had strong representation in both.

The championship races for juvenile commenced at twelve o’clock and first up was the girls U9 race which doesn’t have a team competition but instead medals are awarded to the first ten across the line.

Caroline Campbell led the St Peter’s charge and is definitely one to watch for the future, the club saw some debut runs for Lucy Flanagan, Kate Floody Ava Englishby and Saidhbh Lennon with all the girls performing extremely well in their first ever cross country race.

The boys U9 saw Will McCormack, Lorcan O’Donoghue and Conor Kelly all run really well also.

The girls U11 had a strong turnout from St Peter’s, Aoibhe Kelly narrowly missing out on an individual medal, finishing in fourth position, closely followed by clubmate Bella Cumiskey in fifth and with Aoife Foley and Emma Clarke completing the scoring team, along with Naoise Lennon and Elissa King, the girls' team took home the gold medals.

The boys also produced a strong team performance, which was led home by a very impressive Lorcan Campbell in third place, closely followed by James Murphy, Jack Flanagan and Patrick McKeown to also take team medals.

The girls under thirteen was a keenly contested affair Ella Murphy didn’t get the start she would have hoped for but when she got going she put herself right up in the business end and took the individual bronze.

Anna Kelly had a really strong run and was the team second scorer closely followed by Ellen McCourt and Abbie Murphy to complete the scoring four, the girls were closely supported by Aine Ward, Alexia King and Grace O’Donoghue.

The team results showed the girls had won silver, which was met with great celebrations.

The boys U13 were possibly the best race of the day when Colm Duff did battle with Dunleer AC's Alex Costello, with Colm holding on to win and leading his club team, which consisted of Cian Campbell, Ronan Fennell, Ross Byrne and Noah McCormack to the team gold.

The girls under fifteen also produced a strong team performance from the St Peter’s Club, consisting of Mai Fitzgerald, Sofia Bachvalova and Sadhbh Sheelan, taking the team silver.

The boys U15 team also enjoyed success with Conor Duff leading the club charge along with James McCourt, Donal Foley, Liam Lennon and Logan Lennon to take the team silver.

Laura Duff was the only St Peter’s athlete in the girls U17 race and had a strong run. The boys under seventeen, the club had two athletes, Sam Jeytoo and Cian Smyth, and both acquitted themselves well over the course.

The final athlete in action was Dearbhla Allen which was also a great race in the girls U19 with her nemesis in Louth Championships since they were small Eimear Cooney of Ace AC both girls really put it up to each other as they always do and this occasion it was Dearbhla that took the honours but this won’t be the last battle these two have over the season.