Weekend Report
Date: 8/3/08
It was another busy weekend for Togher athletes on the competition front with many of the clubs young athletes competing at the All-Ireland Schools Cross-Country championships in Galway, the Inter Varsity Cross-Country championships in Galway and Robert Heffernan was in action at the first leg of the IAAF race-walking challenge in Mexico.
The All-Ireland Schools Cross-Country championships took place in Dartfield equestrian centre in Loughrea on Saturday. The course proved to be a testing one with plenty of mud and strong winds. Togher were represented at these championships by 24 athletes competing for their school Douglas CS. Douglas CS had three teams in action Junior, Inter and Senior. They were also the only school in the boy’s section to have 3 teams qualified for the championships, a fantastic achievement.
First into action were the junior boys team racing over 3,500m. This truly is a special group of athletes and the guts & determination showed by these guys throughout the race was incredible. Many of them were running in their first ever All-Ireland championships but this didn’t show as they ran superbly as a team. Conor Foley once again showed his undoubted talent leading the team home in 27th place. Emmett Bracken produced his best ever run to come a superb 36th. The team packed well with James Kelleher 43rd, Ian Tobin 47th, Mark Seacy 54th, Andrew O’ Keeffe 65th, Cillian Fleming 69th and Robert O’ Neill 79th. The team finished in 4th place narrowly missing out on 3rd by a mere 14 points. This was a super team performance and no doubt these guys will medal in 2 years time.
The inter boys towed the line seeking to win the schools first ever All-Ireland title. Racing over 5,000m the team found the course difficult to adapt too but still produced some outstanding displays. Patrick Coleman has always had the talent to make an Irish team and on Saturday this dream became reality. He led the team home in a superb 8th place thus gaining a place on the Irish team for the schools international cross-country in Scotland on March 29th. Behind him Peter Hanrahan was finding the course tough going but battled well to a 26th place finish. Marc Tobin 31st and Brian Murray 35th completed the team scoring and with Adam Kelleher 41st, Darren Walsh 47th, Shaun Healy 60th and Conor O’ Brien 65th the team scored 100 points. There was to be heartbreak for the Douglas CS lads with the news that St Malachys Belfast scored 98 points and so won the team title by 2 points. This was a superb year for this team and they showed tremendous character all season.
The senior boys race was to be a real cracker with Craig Murphy once again taking on Michael Mulhare. Craig has been 2nd twice in these championships over the last 2 years but on Saturday he finally triumphed. With a very fast opening 1km Craig and Michael edged away from the field and proceeded to maintain a very fast tempo. Michael opened up a gap over Craig of roughly 60m and throughout the race Craig tried his best to close it. With 1 km to go Michael looked like he had the race won but Craig showed tremendous guts, determination and courage to close the gap and fly past Michael on the final climb. Craig then ran on to take his 2nd All-Ireland Schools Cross-Country title having won the junior race in 2004. Behind Craig the teams were battling it out for the medals. Douglas CS had other great runs from David O’ Keeffe, Richard Quirke, Alan O’ Brien, Craig Harrington and Alex Kelly. The team finished in 5th place, just failing to take the bronze medals.
Also in action were the University athletes in the varsity cross-country championships. The club had 6 athletes in action competing for both CIT and UCC. First man home for the club was Eoin O’ Sullivan in 26th place. Others to run well were Shane Coffey, Ian Tivy, Stephen Lynch, Donal Coakley and Dan Weaver. The results:
Eoin O Sullivan 23rd
Shane Coffey 47th
Dan Weaver 50th
Stephen Lynch 62nd
Ian Tivy 63rd
Donal Coakley 68th
CIT 5th team
UCC 7th team
In Chihuahua in Mexico Robert Heffernan opened his season at the 1st leg of the IAAF Race-Walking challenge. Racing over 20km, Robert had been in great form of late and was aiming for a solid performance to open his season. The race was held at 1400m altitude and with all the worlds leading competitors towing the line, it would prove to be a difficult race. The race was won by Eder Sanchez in 1.22.53 and Robert came a superb 6th in 1.23.45 defeating many of the worlds top walkers. In fact Robert finished just 2 seconds behind last years world champion Jefferson Perez. This was a great result for Robert and he will now continue his preparation for the Olympic Games in August.
Photos from Galway
It was another busy weekend for Togher athletes on the competition front with many of the clubs young athletes competing at the All-Ireland Schools Cross-Country championships in Galway, the Inter Varsity Cross-Country championships in Galway and Robert Heffernan was in action at the first leg of the IAAF race-walking challenge in Mexico.
The All-Ireland Schools Cross-Country championships took place in Dartfield equestrian centre in Loughrea on Saturday. The course proved to be a testing one with plenty of mud and strong winds. Togher were represented at these championships by 24 athletes competing for their school Douglas CS. Douglas CS had three teams in action Junior, Inter and Senior. They were also the only school in the boy’s section to have 3 teams qualified for the championships, a fantastic achievement.
First into action were the junior boys team racing over 3,500m. This truly is a special group of athletes and the guts & determination showed by these guys throughout the race was incredible. Many of them were running in their first ever All-Ireland championships but this didn’t show as they ran superbly as a team. Conor Foley once again showed his undoubted talent leading the team home in 27th place. Emmett Bracken produced his best ever run to come a superb 36th. The team packed well with James Kelleher 43rd, Ian Tobin 47th, Mark Seacy 54th, Andrew O’ Keeffe 65th, Cillian Fleming 69th and Robert O’ Neill 79th. The team finished in 4th place narrowly missing out on 3rd by a mere 14 points. This was a super team performance and no doubt these guys will medal in 2 years time.
The inter boys towed the line seeking to win the schools first ever All-Ireland title. Racing over 5,000m the team found the course difficult to adapt too but still produced some outstanding displays. Patrick Coleman has always had the talent to make an Irish team and on Saturday this dream became reality. He led the team home in a superb 8th place thus gaining a place on the Irish team for the schools international cross-country in Scotland on March 29th. Behind him Peter Hanrahan was finding the course tough going but battled well to a 26th place finish. Marc Tobin 31st and Brian Murray 35th completed the team scoring and with Adam Kelleher 41st, Darren Walsh 47th, Shaun Healy 60th and Conor O’ Brien 65th the team scored 100 points. There was to be heartbreak for the Douglas CS lads with the news that St Malachys Belfast scored 98 points and so won the team title by 2 points. This was a superb year for this team and they showed tremendous character all season.
The senior boys race was to be a real cracker with Craig Murphy once again taking on Michael Mulhare. Craig has been 2nd twice in these championships over the last 2 years but on Saturday he finally triumphed. With a very fast opening 1km Craig and Michael edged away from the field and proceeded to maintain a very fast tempo. Michael opened up a gap over Craig of roughly 60m and throughout the race Craig tried his best to close it. With 1 km to go Michael looked like he had the race won but Craig showed tremendous guts, determination and courage to close the gap and fly past Michael on the final climb. Craig then ran on to take his 2nd All-Ireland Schools Cross-Country title having won the junior race in 2004. Behind Craig the teams were battling it out for the medals. Douglas CS had other great runs from David O’ Keeffe, Richard Quirke, Alan O’ Brien, Craig Harrington and Alex Kelly. The team finished in 5th place, just failing to take the bronze medals.
Also in action were the University athletes in the varsity cross-country championships. The club had 6 athletes in action competing for both CIT and UCC. First man home for the club was Eoin O’ Sullivan in 26th place. Others to run well were Shane Coffey, Ian Tivy, Stephen Lynch, Donal Coakley and Dan Weaver. The results:
Eoin O Sullivan 23rd
Shane Coffey 47th
Dan Weaver 50th
Stephen Lynch 62nd
Ian Tivy 63rd
Donal Coakley 68th
CIT 5th team
UCC 7th team
In Chihuahua in Mexico Robert Heffernan opened his season at the 1st leg of the IAAF Race-Walking challenge. Racing over 20km, Robert had been in great form of late and was aiming for a solid performance to open his season. The race was held at 1400m altitude and with all the worlds leading competitors towing the line, it would prove to be a difficult race. The race was won by Eder Sanchez in 1.22.53 and Robert came a superb 6th in 1.23.45 defeating many of the worlds top walkers. In fact Robert finished just 2 seconds behind last years world champion Jefferson Perez. This was a great result for Robert and he will now continue his preparation for the Olympic Games in August.
Photos from Galway
