Kilkenny County Senior Cross Country Championships were held in Thomastown on Sunday, along with Juvenile B County Championships.
Castlecomer AC’s Lauren Dermody returned from injury and won bronze, finishing third in the Senior Women’s race.
James Kelly replicated this achievement when third in the Men’s Senior race, with James Morrissey following in 7th and Aidan Morrissey and Brendan Dooley completing the team.
The combined effort earned the Kilkenny B Championship team title.
It is many years since the club had a Senior Men’s team.
Twenty Castlecomer athletes travelled to the Juvenile events and produced a raft of commendable performances, as well as individual and team medals.
U8 athlete Aoife Maher competed over 200m.
At U10, Ella Ryan and Rebecca Staunton raced over 600m.
In the boys’ race an impressive group showed the potential to achieve as a team with a little more experience. Competing were James Bourne, Sean Dormer, Edward Farrell, Rian Mullally, Oisin Aspell, Ciaran Quinn and Fionn Maher.
At U12 Mairead Ring and Sarah O’Neill impressed over 1,000m while also at U12, Darragh Bourne, Daniel Quinn and Tommy Hickey were the third team over 1,000m securing bronze.
Charlie Ryan was bronze medallist in 1,500m U14 race, with Padraig Quinn two places behind.
The absence of a third runner prevented Castlecomer from competing from this position of strength for a team medal in the event.
Perhaps this will be possible in the future?
The remaining Juvenile B championships (uneven ages) will be another opportunity for emerging and experienced juvenile runners to enjoy competition in this cross country season.
This fixture is most likely to be in January 2022.
