A strong women’s team travelled to Santry, Dublin on Sunday for the highly competitive National Inter Club Cross Country finals. The Castleisland club’s athletes took to the line along side Ireland’s very best distance runners including former European Cross Country Champion, Fionnuala Britton.
“An Ríocht colours were prominent at the head of the field throughout the race and, at the completion of the 8k course, we had two athletes finish inside the top ten with Laura Crowe 7th and Shona Heaslip 8th – a remarkable achievement in itself,” said An Riocht AC manager, Kate McSweeney.
European Championships in France
Shona Heaslip was also first U-23 across the line which means she is on her way to the European Championships in France on December 13th. With such strong placings by both Niamh O’Sullivan and Sharon Cahill there was a good chance An Riocht was going to be in the mix when it came to team medals.
“The team section of the national inter-club competition is notoriously competitive and is loaded with big city clubs like: Leevale; DSD – Dundrum South Dublin; Raheny Shamrocks and Liffey Valley. A phone call en route home from the Cork legend Donie Walsh to our club secretary, Denny Mc Sweeney confirmed the news that we were indeed successful with the girls securing a set of national silver medals,” said the delighted manager.
Incredible Achievement
“An incredible achievement by the girls and probably the best achievement by any An Riocht AC team EVER! The girls’ points put them right in the mix between two of the country’s most prestigious clubs, Leevale (1st) and DSD (behind us in 3rd). A just reward for all the hard work put in by the team all season and a testament to their coach, mentor and very important team member, Niamh O’Sullivan. We’re all extremely proud,” Kate concluded.
