Leinster CC 25th October 2009

Results;
U12 Boys - Niall O'Sullivan 16th, Conall Hayes 24th, Patrick Flanagan, Paul Maguire; Team were 9th over all. Kildare County Team were 4th; Niall and Conall scored on County Team
U14 Boys - Sean Flanagan 21st - Kildare CountyTeam were 3rd ; Sean scored on County Team
U16 Boys - Conor Murphy 13th - just missed out by one place for Leinster Team
U18 Girls - Erica Dixon 18th, Kildare County Team were 1st; Erica scored on County Team

Race Report;
The first round of the Leinster Championships was hosted by Adamstown,iCo. Wexford. This meant an early start for all those competing. We arrived in plenty of time and the course was well laid out. The rain held off and the races got under way at 12.00. First up was U12 Girls and Fina Hayes was running in this race, she headed for the line and had a great position in the middle of the pack. Fina ran 1000m and did well, unfortunately she was out of the medals on this occasion, but was still smiling at the end. Next up were the boys U12 team, they had a good start with Conall getting out early closly followed by Niall (out of age), Patrick and Paul. In a very tough race with 130 other athletes the boys did very well, Niall was first home for the Le Cheile team, followed closely by Conal, Patrick was caught up in the middle of the pack and came in 59th with Paul Maguire bringing the team home. Many thanks to Paul as he is recovering from an injury. Kildare County will decide in the next few days if they will send a team to the All-Irelands - If they do both Naill and Conall with be on the Kildare Team.

Sean Flanagan was competing in the boys U14 which is out of his age goup, Sean was not as nervous as normal and was looking forward to the race. Sean got out in the middle of the pack and was down in about 50th position when he was able to move steadily towards the top twenty. Sean had a great run and was very happy with his 21st placing. Sean was reward with a bronze County Medal and will represent Kildare County in the All-Irelands.

Conor Murphy was competing in the boys U16 3k, not having a club team Conor was hoping that the Kildare Team would qualify for the All-Irelands. Unfortunately on this occasion Kildare County were 6th. Conor had a great race and was very comfortable throughout, he thought he had done enough but he finished 13th, the top 12 make the Leinster team - so Conor just missed out. He was very level-headed afterwards saying "that's the way it goes". Hard Luck Conor!

Erica Dixon was the last Le Cheile athlete to run, again running 3k, Erica got out well but was unable to maintain her position, Erica finished 18th overall. Kildare County finished in First place, Erica received a Gold County medal and will represent Kildare County in the All-Irelands.

My thanks to the Fiona, Martin, Colm and Martina for their support on the day, thank you also to all the athletes who represented Le Cheile on the day. Hope you enjoyed yourselves and I think I got photo's of you all (Tony will attach). Next round un-even ages 8th November.