On 1st October, 18 boys from 3rd,4th,5th and 6th class in St. Colmcille’s travelled by bus to Thurles Crokes Athletic Track for the annual schools Cross Country Championships. The weather was perfect for the 2,900 boys and girls who were competing in 30 races.
We arrived at 11.20am accompanied by Mr. Kelly and Ms. Glennon. We found our usual spot in the middle of the field and left our bags there. We were allowed to walk around for 20 minutes until we were called upon to cheer on the 3rd and 4th class race.
That race got us off to a good start with Sean Collier coming in 4th place, which was a big improvement from his position of 63rd last year. Tom Duggan followed in 6th place, Michael Cahill came in 9th, Mickey Delaney closely behind in 14th place. These positions achieved a team gold medal beating Templederry by a single point. The other boys, Josh Quinlan, Cormac Foy, Ned Delaney and Eddie Corcoran ran a great race also but were unlucky not to get a team medal, coming in 6th place.
The 5th and 6th race was the final race to be run out of 30 races, with 90 boys in our race. We lined up and John Francis O’Donoghue led the pack for 200 meters. He was followed closely by Darragh Hogan from Burgess and Conor Cadell. As the race developed it was between Darragh and Conor, they ran together but Conor took him on the downhill stretch and then led until the end. It was a fine team performance with Conor taking 1st place, James Corcoran taking 4th, John Campion 5th position and Jack Nevin coming 7th place. This ensured a team gold medal. The following boys, Eoin Quinn 11th, Jim-Bob Kennedy 13th, Luke Ormond 21st, John Francis 49th and Kane Conneely shortly afterwards also ensured a bronze team medal beating Templederry by 1 point again.
Overall it was a very successful day, taking back 14 medals to the school. A huge thank you to Mr. Kelly and Ms. Glennon who encouraged and supported us throughout the day.
