Irish National Junior Cross Country & Comber Cup

All Heart and Sole – All Ireland success for Young McVeigh

When you’ve trained hard and had a great run at the Ulster Championships, to be selected to represent the county and even provincial squad is an opportunity that you can’t pass. With 10 of the Newcastle AC junior squad selected to embrace such an opportunity, it was time to organise everyone for a trip to Kilkenny to take part in the 123.ie National Senior, Junior and Juvenile Even Age Cross Country Championships, hosted by Gowran AC.

There was no sugar coating the conditions that each runner was due to face. Even in advance of the big day, #therewillbemuck circulated around the running community warning of what to expect. The weather though, unlike the ground, was looking like it would hold itself together for the duration of the day which was welcome news for runners and spectators who had donned the wellies and had copious amounts of spare socks in the car.

First up for Newcastle was current U11 Ni & Ulster Champion, Harry McVeigh. After moving up an age category for the Even Championships in October, Harry found himself crossing the line in 5th at Billy Neill and surprising even himself on the day with his performance. Since then, the youngster has given his all in training and took a convincing win at Round 1 of Flahavans Primary Schools XC league and also sits comfortably in the top spot in the McGrady’s Financial Services Junior XC Series. The task ahead was a large one, both metaphorically and physically. With boys towering over him on the line, he knew he had to stay upright and skillfully navigate that initial 150m to keep within a shout of a medal, finding space to allow his natural racing instincts to kick in. Accelerating off the line, Harry made his intentions clear and having a lower centre of gravity worked to his advantage. Focused, controlled and forever hunting down that lead group, after 1 lap, he’d carved out space in the top 10 and matched the pace of those around him.

Entering the final stages, he knew his ability to finish strong would see him power up the final straight and smash through the finish in 7th place. As he stood amongst boys head and shoulders taller than him receiving his medal, his achievement outshone them as the youngest competitor in the winners circle. Rest assured this will not be the last time this young man will receive an All Ireland medal for athletics. Out performing his old man by a place in the same competition ‘back in the day’ makes him officially the best athlete in number 117. Adding to his hard earned medal, he gained a 2nd medal, this time, bronze for the Provincial Squads performance.

The U14 girls race welcomed Eve McNamara and Maisie McVeigh to the line. After the previous two races, the racing line had begun to wear and mud was twice as bad and wide as the start of the day. This was the largest race of the day and with every country bringing their best runners, who were all equally as good as each other, it was a highly competitive race. Eve took the approach of a strong start to find position and to fall in with her respective pace. Though this soon turned out to be half the runners in the race. This greatly impacted on her view of the route in front and landed herself in some muddy foot situations. She hung in for 109th place. Maisie struggled with the ground conditions though she still ran with lots of heart to take 174th.

Fahlin Murphy-McKibbin and Fiachna McAleenan who are both no strangers to the mud, took to the line in the U14 boys race. Fahlin got off to a strong start keeping that lead group within reach. After a 3rd place finish at Ulster, the speed on the ground of some of the U14 boys was unmatchable. Fahlin crossed the line in a respectable 29th place. Club mate and Ulster Pentathlon champion Fiachna, displayed yet again how diverse and adaptable he is as a multi eventer. Moving from the track to the actual fields was flawless and he finished strong in 86th place, fighting right to the end, sneaking a few places in the final 100m in true Fiachna style.

At U16, Newcastle had Natalie Cotton and Coehan Murphy-McKibbin representing the County Squad. Having watched the younger club mates prior to their own race navigate a deteriorating course, they had the opportunity to take on a larger loop of a course and that adjustment gave a small reprieve to the legs mid run. Both runners ran stellar races and left everything out there with Natalie finishing in 126th place and Coehan in 117th.

The ‘Senior Juniors’ also travelled to Kilkenny to make their mark on the championship. Yasin Brannigan, Patrick McDaid and Ethan McMullan had 5000m ahead of them which with each loop would prove even harder. With plenty of tough and equally as dirty mountain miles in their legs, the 3 young men relied on their Hill and Dale experiences and hours spent in Tollymore in brutal conditions to get them through the race ahead.

With the U18 and U20 men’s race run together it was tough at times to tell who was what age category between the near 200 runners. Ethan was first home in 103rd place in a phenomenal time of 20.43. Patrick was next to cross the line in 123rd place with a sharp second lap making up over 20 places in the closing stages to finish in 21.17 with Yasin hot on his heels in 146th place in 21.54. With 5k times that would win them road races, to pull out that speed whilst maintaining flawless agility, balance and coordination on ground that was extensively broken up and rapidly deteriorating deserves special recognition.

Emily shines in Comber

At the other end of the country, Emily Kerr who narrowly missed out on qualifying for the All Irelands, toed the line back in Billy Neill, Comber at the P6/P7 Primary Race at the Comber Cup. With similar issues affecting the route in Comber, these were the conditions young Emily would thrive under having spent all of track and field season complaining it was too clean. Needless to say that beautiful long ponytail was swinging at an alarming rate as she worked her way up through the field embracing the sliding, muddy bog sections and moving gracefully into the opening spaces to cross the line in 4th place.

Commitment, dedication and unwavering support for all the young athletes across all disciplines of athletics from parents, club mates and coaches has raised the profile of the home grown talent in Newcastle AC, opening doors of opportunity and framing the talent of the junior squad this season as individuals and as part of regional and provincial squad on some of the biggest platforms in the country.