B Championships All-Irelands 6.02.11

The conditions in Alsaa were appalling but it didn't deter the youngest of competitors namely Carragh Hayes. Carragh was first up for Le Cheile, Carragh had a great start and was out of the pen at a fast pace, Cheered on by her dad Pat, she finish with a smile. Well done. Next up was Fina Hayes, Fina was running out of her age in this race and put in a great run in very difficult conditions, Well done Fina. Kildare County took silver in the Girls U13 and Fina was the 6th Girl home on the Kildare team and earned a silver medal. Congratulations. Next up were the boys U13, we had a team; Conall Hayes, Patrick Flanagan, Thomas Connolly and Liam Murphy, they were all fantastic and Conall positioned himself well over the first 2/3 of the race and went into the outer field in 4th place, however with 1k to go Conall and Liam were in the top 20 and they both finished in fine style moving to 14th and 15th place respectively, followed by Patrick and Thomas. Thomas' grand father made it just in time to see his grandson's race. The boys finished in the team event in 5th place, and Conall and Liam were scorers on the County Kildare Team who took gold, Well done boys. Next upto run were Sean Flanagan, Conor Kiely ad Darrah Nolan, just short of having a team, the boys headed into a very strong head wind and fought their way til the end, Sean finish 15th with Darragh 25th followed closely by Conor. The boys were all cheered on by their very proud dad's who were at this stage knee deep in muck. The last athlete competing was Conor Murphy,Conor's race was run in conjunction with the Celtic U20 and U17 race which saw athletes representing Ireland, Ulster, Scotland and Wales go head to head. Conor held his own and in fact took a few international vests. Conor's race was the best out of his two previous All-Ireland races and saw him finish in 2nd place behind Eire Og's Michael Healion. Covered from head to toe in muck Conor was delighted with the result as was his coach. Conor was supported as always by his dad and all the other members of Le Cheile AC. Many thanks to all the parents for withstanding the dreadful conditions and thanks to Liam's dad who took photo's on the day. I'll try to get them uploaded to our site. Congratulations again to everyone who represented Le Cheile.

Thanks to Willie Murphy for photos he took on the day. Photos can be viewed here.