The curtain came down on the club cross country season with the even-age athletes battling it out for honours in Abbottstown (Dublin) on 26th Nov, followed by the unevens in Waterford on 17th Dec.  Roisin O’Brien impressed in both age groups with individual medal winning performances and the boys’ U16 team secured a 3rd place finish.  

First up for Westport AC in Abbottstown was the U12 boys team of Luke Durkan, Jack Dawson, Cillian McGing, Padraig Corduff, Declan Moore and Jack Sweeney.  All ran their hearts out, representing their club admirably on the All-Ireland stage.  The star of the show, Roisin O’Brien, continued her recent improvement with an impressive 7th place finish in the girl’s U14 event.  Next up was the U14 boys’ team who put in battling performances in a tough race.  Colin Hastings, Conal Dawson, James Marrey, Cathal Breslin and Jack Mulchrone gave their all for the club.  In the girls’ U16 event, Saoirse O’Brien arose from her sick bed to compete, but unfortunately it wasn’t to be on this occasion.  This was really disappointing for Saoirse, as if in full health, she would have been one of the strong favourites to win the race outright.  The U16 boys’ team of Ethan Lloyd, Con McNamara, Ronan O’Donnell, Rossa McAllister, Rossa Horgan and Josh Lally, ran superbly to take 3rd place in the overall club event.   Sarah Staunton, put in a great effort as the sole competitor for Westport AC in the girls’ U18 race.  This was followed by the U18 boys’ team.  Patrick Chambers, Cian McAllister, Aaron Doherty, Jack Maher and Sean Doherty missed out on the medals with a 5th place club team finish.  This is the end of an era as these bunch of lads (along with a few others over the years) have won national club team medals on 7 occasions including 3 gold.  Alas, other sports now take priority for most members of the team.  Attempts by Westport AC’s coaching staff to convince them otherwise fell on deaf ears!  Westport AC’s loss is undoubtedly the gain of the various GAA, cycling, and soccer clubs who now benefit from the significant talent that these young men possess.  To finish the day off, Sorcha McAllister and Aoife O’Brien both performed well in the competitive junior race.  

A relatively small Westport AC contingent travelled down to Waterford to take part in the uneven-age events.  Oisin Maher, running out of age, performed well in the U11 boys race.  Roisin O’Brien added to her Abbottstown medal by coming in 10th in the U15s.  This was all the more impressive considering Roisin was also running out of age. Con McNamara put in a valiant effort in the boys’ U15’s race as he pushed hard in the early stages in an attempt to keep up with the pace-setters.  Con has steadily improved over the past year and the expectations are high for future events.  Saoirse O’Brien put her illness woes from Abbottstown behind her to finish a commendable 7th place in the U17’s race.  Saoirse was also running out of age.  Sean Doherty was Westport AC’s sole competitor in the U17 boys’ event and he put in his usual gutsy showing.  Sean is another who has shown great improvement over the past year.  The 3rd of the talented O’Brien sisters, Aoife, put in a solid performance in the U19s race.  Finally, Westport AC’s Sorcha McAlister put in a sterling performance to finish a very impressive 5th position in the very competitive novice women’s event.  

So that marks the end of another successful year for Westport AC.  Happy New Year to all our members, their parents, all coaches and those that diligently help out to make the club the success that it is.  Hopefully 2018 will bring along further triumphs for our small west of Ireland club