Cross country on the track. That’s what the Coronavirus reduced cross country to this year. The first round of the county championships got the go-ahead but then the season was closed down. So Athletics Ireland suggested a virtual event to give the young athletes a challenge. KCH athletes rose to the challenge and took part in runs over the relevant distances during training in Scanlon Park. All athletes in each age cohort were given the opportunity to take part with the combined times of the first four finishers being forwarded to national as our entries for the virtual event.
The under 9s and 10s were combined and completed their virtual run over 500m. The girls’ team turned in a time of 7.10.67 with Emma Kelly clocking 1.43.67. The boys’ time was slightly slower at 7.22.26. It was a similar outcome inthe under 11 events with the girls having a better time than the boys – 15.24.00 and 15.52 respectively. They competed over 1000m.
The under 12s and 13s were combined and competed over 1500m. The time for the boys’ team was 22.22 just marginally faster than the girls who came home in 22.53. The same trend continued with the boys finishing with 21.48 and the girls in 23.33 again running over 1500m. The under 17s and under 19s also got in on the virtual vent while not part of the official competition.
Now we await feedback from Athletics Ireland on how our athletes fared relevant to the national scene.
First team members;- Girls U9/10 – Emma Kelly, Jasmine Timmons McEneaney, Amelia O’Brien, Lucy Maher. Boys U9/10 – Emmet Murphy, Peter Quinn, Kevin Comerford, Jack O’Neill. Girls U11 – Ellen Daly, Sinead Cormack, Kara Canavan, Ellen Cormack. Boys U11 – Robert Cullen, Thomas Hayes, Ryan Farrell, Shay Molloy. Girls U12/13 – Molly Daly, Kate Maher, ClodaghO’Callaghan, Emma Hogan. Boys U12/13 – Oisin Henderson, Robert Lacey, Eoin Moore, Cormac Holden. Girls U15 – Pia Langton, Louisa Gilmore, Ruth Cody, Laura Keogh. Boys U15 – Patrick Lacey, Liam Thompson, Louie Raggett, Eoghan O’Callaghan.