The Munster B Cross Country Championships took place in Beaufort and the Club was represented by 6 athletes that made the journey to Kerry. The running conditions were a little soft underfoot and as usual we had plenty of rain but that didn’t dampen their spirits. The races were well supported with nearly 100 athletes in some.First up was Killian Whelan in the Boys U11 1000m event and he performed very well when finishing in 31st position and the second Tipperary athlete home however Tipperary could only field 5 athletes one short for a team.
Next up were the boys U13 over 1500m and here we had a fantastic team performance with 4 athletes, first home for Clonmel was Cian Flaherty in 14 place just outside the individual medals position then we had Conor O Gorman in 30th, Michael O’Reilly 33rd and Cathal O’Gorman in 37th. These lads combined to finish 5th in the club competition on 114 with 107 points taking the Bronze oh so close.
However the strong performance by the Clonmel athletes helped Tipperary finish 2nd in the County competition. No mean feat when you consider all the lads were running out of their age group.In the final event of the day for Clonmel athletes we had Conor Flaherty in the boys U15 run over 2500m and if prizes were given out for gutty performance then Conor would have won. After a bit of a tussle when the whistle started the race he was spiked, fell, was stood on and then lost a running shoe. He picked himself up in last position and had the good sense to pace himself and pick off his competitors one by one when coming home in an unbelievable 22nd position. Unfortunately Tipperary were unable to field a team in this event also.The next competition for Clonmel Juvenile athletes is the National Uneven age Cross Country Championship in Waterford on the 17th December. Clonmel AC would like to congratulate the athletes and parents that travelled to Kerry today to fly the flag for Club & County and would also like to wish the athletes going to the Nationals all the best.
