Olympian Y&AC: Full round-up from Donegal juvenile Uneven Championships

Over the past two weekends, the Olympian Y&AC club has participated in the Donegal juvenile even and uneven XC Championships with great aplomb.

First up on Sunday 6^th October was the Even ages in Aghyaran Co. Tyrone hosted by Finn Valley AC on what was a tough undulating course, our young Olympians were really impressive from the off with a lot of new athletes competing for the club.

The day started with the U8 Girls with Hanna Carty having a great run to finish in 5^th place. Young Niamh McGrenera had a storming run also in the U10 Girls taking a super 6^th place and leading the Team of Niamh, Ailbhe Breen, Kelly Carty and Roisin Faul to 5^th place overall.

A great achievement for these youngsters many competing in their first championships.

The U12 Girls race was an absolute cracker from the ever-improving Anna Russell, with a real ding-dong battle with LAC member Emma Bonner the two girls ran away from the field and nipped and tucked at each other throughout the race.

Eventually, Anna pulling away in the final 200m to take the glory and title of Donegal Champion. A thoroughly deserved result for the young Olympian of which there is plenty more to come. Anna led her team to a well-deserved Bronze medal with Orlaith Faul, Chloe Deeney and Aoife McGeehan.

The U16 girls race produced arguably the race of the day with our own Nuala Bose battling with Rosses AC’s Amy Green. Again the 2 girls had pulled away from the field and with the lead chopping and changing constantly between the two. Nuala had put in a tremendous effort and just being out-done on a sprint finish to come home in 2^nd place and secure the Silver Medal.

This represents a great run and huge step up for Nuala to battle with someone of the caliber of Amy, given her accolades in recent weeks and months. Well done Nuala, fantastic running.

The U18 boys’ race was last of the day, with the ever-impressive Sean McGinley taking the title of Donegal Champion a year out of age. A comfortable and routine victory given the quality of this young Olympian athlete.

Club results on the day:

U8 Girls

Hanna Carty 5^th

U8 Boys

Liam McGlynn 15^th

U10 Girls

Niamh McGrenera 6^th, Ailbhe Breen 18^th, Kelly Carty 32^nd, Roisin Faul 33^rd,

Team 5^th place

U10 Boys

Donal Kelly 45^th, Jack Gildea 51^st

U12 Girls

Anna Russell 1^st and Donegal Champion, Orlaith Faul 11^th, Chloe Deeney 16^th, Aoife McGeehan 40^th, Team 3^rd and bronze medalists.

U12 Boys

Cameron McArthur, first time out ran and acquitted himself brilliantly.

U14 Girls

Aine Carlin 29^th, Ellen O’Donnell 32^nd

U16 Girls

Nuala Bose 2^nd and Silver medal, Holly Duddy 16^th

U18 Boys

Sean McGinley 1^st and Donegal Champion

Next up were the Novice and Uneven juvenile ages held on Sunday 13^th in the impressive surroundings of Mulaghderg Co.Donegal hosted by Rosses AC.

On a Splendid and glorious day, Olympian Y&AC shone brighter than the sun, taking 2 individual titles with Lucy Campbell and Sean McGinley being crowned Donegal Champions.

The day started with our club captain Tiernan Boyle competing in the Men’s Novice 6km race. Competing in his first XC of the year Tiernan had a brilliant race coming home in 19^th place overall in a super time of 22.26 mins, a brilliant effort given the three tough 2km laps that had to be endured. Kicking things of well for the club.

Next up we had the U9 girls where we had a great battle within the club itself with Lucy and Niamh McGrenera. Niamh shot out very fast up the hill and opened a commanding gap back to the rest of the field, unfortunately, a fall on the course saw her relinquish the lead to her teammate Lucy Campbell who powered home to be crowned Donegal Champion with Niamh having got back to her feet coming home in a brilliant fourth place. Plenty more to come from both these young ladies as they progress, I’ve no doubt.

The U13 Girls race was another great battle where we saw Anna Russell and LAC’s Emma Bonner battling for the minor positions after the impressive Mia Fletcher from Cranford AC ran away with victory.

Anna running a year out of age showing maturity beyond her young years settling into the race in the top group before making a move on the hill to move into second place which she then held for the remainder of the race. An absolutely fantastic result for Anna, which shows what a little self-belief can do for young athletes. Well done Anna.

In the U17 Girls race Nuala Bose took the race by the scruff of the neck obviously buoyed by the confidence from the run the week before. Nuala continued to put pressure on the field throughout and opening a commanding 70m gap back to 2^nd place, after the first of two laps.

Ciara Doherty had settled into the chasing group and was working hard to close the gap. Going into the second lap Nuala was running as strong as ever and kept applying the pressure, however, in the background young Sarah Bradley from Finn Valley had started her usual second-half push for the finish.

With around 250m to go the gap had closed to 20meters and with the momentum, Sarah pushed past Nuala on the final descent to cross the line in first place, with Nuala taking the silver. This was a really gutsy run and full credit to young Bose for pushing such a fast pace from the start.

These runs will continue to help her develop in the weeks and months ahead. Brilliant running Nuala well done from all the club. Ciara having her own battle for the 3^rd place was working as hard as anyone and narrowly missed out coming home in 4^th place which in itself, was a brilliant run given the limited training done so far due to illness.

Sean McGinley was to the fore again in the U17 boys’ race, stretching the field from the gun, in what was an impressive solo run coming home in 1^st place and crowned Donegal Champion for the second week in a row.

Added incentive for Sean this week with Olympian Y&AC U17 boys’ team more than capable of applying themselves at this level.

The team including Paul Hannigan, Oisin Teape and Conor McMorrow and conducted themselves impressively to come how as 2^nd team and collect their silver medals. Well done boys.

Club results:

U9 Girls

Lucy Campbell 1^st Donegal Champion

Niamh McGrenera 4^th, Ailbhe Breen 9^th, Roisin Faul 18^th

U9 Boys

Oisin Cuskelly 9^th, Ashton Forrester 18^th, Donal Kelly 20^th

U11 Girls

Aoife McGeehan 39^th

U11 Boys

Patrick McHugh 31^st, John Campbell 57^th

U13 Girls

Anna Russell 2^nd – Silver medal

Orlaith Faul 16^th, Chloe Deeney 21^st

U13 Boys

Taylor-Lee Forrester 28^th, Eoghan O’Donnell 30^th, Charlie McHugh 31^st

U17 Girls

Nuala Bose 2^nd – Silver medal

Ciara Doherty 4^th

U17 Boys

Sean McGinley 1^st Donegal Champion

Paul Hannigan 11^th, Oisin Teape 18^th, Conor McMorrow 21^st ,

Team 2^nd place.

All in all a very impressive 2 weeks for Olympian Y&AC, now we gear towards the NI & Ulster Championships in 2 weeks’ time where the “Sea of Blue” will be out in force again, watch this space.

Quick shout out to 3 of the clubs more experienced runners taking on the mighty challenge of the Dublin City Marathon, Jimmy Carlin, Annemarie Bose & Annemarie McGeehan (first time) on the 27^th October. Best of Luck from everyone at the club guys..