Ballina AC hosted the superbly organised recent Connaught even age cross-country championships.  27 Juvenile athletes from Westport AC travelled to compete with some excellent performances.

The U12 girls 2000m race was first, and Westport was well represented with Saoirse O’Brien leading the team home in first place, a remarkable achievement as Saoirse is running out of age and will be in this race again next year. Anna O’Riain was next in in 12th position, Keri McHale 18th, Ava Lynne Kane 34th, closely followed by Sarah Staunton, Lara Kennedy Jones, Kate Moran and Ellen Power, all contributing to the team taking home the silver medal at club level and the gold medal at county level.

In the U12 boys 2000m race, the Westport team also put in a really impressive performance, winning the club team silver and contributing to Mayo county coming second.  Luke Dawson led the team home in third place, followed by Rossa McAllister 16th, Sean Doherty 18th, Sean Corcoran 24th, and Patrick Grady 35th.

Next up for Westport was Aoife O’Brien who came home in 5th place in the U14 girls 3000m race, contributing to the Mayo team coming second on the day.
In the boys U14 2000m Cian McAllister and Aaron Doherty came 9th and 10th respectively, followed by Marley Hoban 16th, Ben Walsh 18th and Alex O’Riain 19th, all contributing to Westport taking the team silver and Mayo the county team silver.

In the U16 girls  4000m Sorcha McAllister, who also ran out of age, had a fantastic race taking home the bronze individual medal together with the county gold.  In the U16  boys 4000m Diarmuid McNulty also ran a fine race coming home in 12th position.

In the girls U18 4000m Ellen Moran ran a great race, leading her team home in third place, followed by Ashling Henaghan 17th, Stephanie Henaghan 18th and Ashleigh Currid in 20th position, contributing to the team qualifying for the All Irelands and a gold medal for the county. In the boys U18 6000m Kieran Moran came home in 12th place.

Well done to all. The next competition for the qualifying athletes will be the All-Ireland even Cross Country Championships, which will be held in Co. Meath, on Sunday 25th November.  The uneven All-Ireland Championships will be in Co. Wexford on Sunday 9th December.
Click HERE for Results
Click HERE for Photos