Weekend Results September 29th 2019

SUNDAY 29th
The sun shone in Thomastown today for the first of the county championships. Gowran had 67 juveniles and 5 senior athletes participating. First up were the U7, U8 and U9 non-championship races. Many of our athletes were competing for the first time and the support for these up and coming stars was fantastic.

All our boys came in the top 10 in the U7s. Mia Kennedy was the sole running in the U8 and she finished well to clinch 3rd position. Bobby Coomey in the boys U8 came in the top 10. Great racing from the girls U9 which saw Emily O’Keeffe finish in a close 8th position. Aaron Carrigan and MJ Carroll finished strongly in the top 5 of the U9 boys.
The relays had amazing numbers of juveniles from the homeclub Thomastown AC and St Josephs, St, Senans, Barrow Harriers, Castlecomer and KCH. Gowran brought the numbers too. In the U11 girls we had 15 athletes and 16 in the Boys U11. The girls U11 had 23 teams, 69 runners in total. Kate Hayden led her team from the whistle. With a smooth changeover to Holly Drennan who ran with determination but had KCH and Thomastown on her heels. KCH athlete caught Rachel on the first bend but she fought hard to stay with her and then put on a great battle to finish in a close 2nd.

We had 16 boys in the U11 relay, Odhran Prendergast led from the whistle and gave a great lead to Tomas Carroll and Robert Coogan who continued the pace and they had an easy 1st position win. Behind them the U10 boys Evan Ryan, Darragh Carroll and David Timmins ran with determination to finish in second clear of the field. Great achievement from these boys up in age.

The U13 Girls, Hazel Coogan, Lucy Coomey and Ailbhe Steger, were unlucky finishing just outside the medals in 4th. Great to see 12, U13 boys out for the relays. Dylan Drennan, Liam O’Dwyer and Sam Brennan won 1st place. Sam Brennan deserves a special mention as he received the baton in 2nd place with St. Senans ahead with a marginal lead. Sam was not deterred and he just took off, gaining ground and passing the Senans athlete just before the home straight.

In the U15 Girls, Maria Connolly, Sarah Kehoe and Rachel O’Neill finished 3rd. On the last leg, Rachel’s got the baton down the field and ran an amazing 500m to put in a challenge for 2nd but the St. Josephs athlete held on to it. The U15 boys with Billy Coogan, Diarmuid Langton and Luke Phelan came 2nd. We had no athletes in the U17 boys and girls so no chance of picking up a few points in those races.

Overall the club did fantastic and are the current leaders by 1pt for the county Shield.

-Full Results: https://gowranac.com/result/2019-county-relays/

-Flickr Photos https://flic.kr/s/aHsmHwso9M

In the senior mens short course, Niall Sheehan was the clear winner, followed by Johan Muller in 3rd. Johann didn’t get it too easy with a home stretch challenge from Mike Hanlon from Kings River but Johann held out to the finish. Adrian Cunningham was the 1st O40,Tom Corrigan 1st O35 and John Leamy 2nd O35. Gowran won the 1st team position.In the womens Emma Cooke was 5th and also 1st O30.

On SATURDAY 28th at Parkrun, the Magee family participated with Robbie, Leona and son David all finishing in under 25 mins. David Holland was 1st in the 15-17 age category. Marathon runners Ted Ryan, James Delehanty and Pat Lennon also participated in the 5k to finish their 30+ km training run.