Holly O'Flynn and Caoimhe Flannery were the stars on a great day for Skibbereen AC at the Cork County A Juvenile Even-age Cross Country Championships at Macroom recently.
HOLLY O’Flynn and Caoimhe Flannery were the stars on a great day for Skibbereen AC at the Cork County A Juvenile Even-age Cross Country Championships at Macroom recently.
More than 500 juveniles participated on a dry but testing course with ten races in all, male and female from U10-U18.
Due to the large number of participants in each race, six medals were awarded and Skibb had seven athletes finishing in the top 15 of their respective races while the club was one of only two to come away with two golds.
Following on from her U9 win last year, Holly was in wonderful form in the U10 as she scorched to a superb victory in a field of 88 athletes over 1,000m. Leading from the start, she finished in superb style while Lorraine Coakley ran very strongly also to finish 12th.
In U12 race, Caoimhe Flannery followed suit running very strongly from the start and led the field of 79 athletes from the early stages over a testing 2,000m course. The lead was maintained all through as she won her second county title in four years while Ciara Delaney also ran superbly to claim the bronze medal.
In the boys’ U10 race, Conor O’Brien – underage again next year – finished tenth while U13 athlete Gavin Sweetnam finished 13th in the U14 race, with Ferdia Denis McAleavey also running very well to finish in 15th. Other Skibbereen athletes to run well but outside the top 15 on this occasion were Muireann O’Donovan and Holly Humston (U10 girls), Bobby Carstairs and David Bahryowski (U10 boys), Emer Dennis McAleavey, Diana Coakley and Emily O’Donovan (U12 girls), Cathal and Eoin O’Shanahan, Ultan Dennis McAleavey and Danny O’Sullivan (U12 boys), Cormac O’Shanahan (U14 boys), Fergal O’Shanahan (U16 boys) and Emily Sweeney (U18 girls).
