Several athletes from the club made the 2 hour trip up the N17 to Sligo racecourse for the Connacht Schools cross country during the week with some fantastic results. Sligo racecourse is one of the tougher cross country courses and we’ve battled there on several occasions in the past. Full results have not yet been published so I have only limited information.

The big performance of the day came from Jamie Fallon in the Senior Boys 6000m where he took the gold medal ahead of an elite field which included the highly regarded Westport and Sligo AC athlete David Harper. And not far behind in the ‘performance of the day’ charts, Oisin Lyons had a fine victory in the Minor Boys 2500m by a considerable margin. With both victors representing Calasanctius Oranmore, it was a big day for the school and one which got even better with the Intermediate Boys team taking the gold medal in their 5000m with Liam Moran 9th, Oisin Doyle 11th, James Cahalane 13th and Matthew Barrett 36th. Damian O’Boyle also had a strong performance in the Senior Boys race with a 4th place finish. Others from Calasanctius to impress included Sean Delaney and Luke Finn 19th and 20th in the Minor Boys race, Ben Sharkey 19th in the Junior Boys and Laura Keane 36th in the Junior Girls.

Presentation Athenry also had a strong contingent from the club in action with Grainne McDaid foremost amongst them and helping her school to team victory in the Intermediate Girls 3500m. Shauna Tobin, Fiona Commins and Anna Farrelly were on the school’s Minor Girls team but I don’t have finishing places to hand yet. Conor Lee placed 17th in the Junior Boys race.

Dearbhaile Walsh (Seamount) placed 8th in the Junior Girls 2500m with Aoife Greene helping the Bower Athlone to the silver medals in the team event with a 16th place finish and Ciana Reidy (Loughrea VS) battling bravely in the same race. Ciara Greene (The Bower) placed 7th in the Intermediate Girls 3500m.

I will post more results if/when they come to hand.