(Written by Orla O’ Keeffe)
On Saturday last, 5/12/14, Thomastown girls – Áine Kirwan-2nd, Ellen Ryan- 49th (presentation), Ciara O’Keeffe-44th (loreto), Orla O’Keeffe-55th , Edie Maher, Anna Cass – were running in Santry Demense, Santry, Dublin.
The six girls ran a superb race yet again this year through muck, swampy grounds and slippery surfaces. Striking gold yet again this year. There were 150 girls competing in the race (that’s just about a third of our whole school). They all had to run 2.5 kilometres, that’s about the same as from the school to coolwagon and back again.
But first you need to know how they got that far, so give me a minute and I’ll explain. First they had to compete in the county championships, where the girls struck gold the first time in this cross country season. Next stop leinsters. These were held in Adamstown, Wexford. Trust me there was plenty more muck, cow dung and slippery surfaces here too. Once again the team struck gold. This team was completed by- Aine ,Ellen ,Ciara ,Orla ,Anna, Edie and of course Dearbhla O’Reilly.
Final stop: All-Irelands. Any team that get’s to an All-Ireland is an extremely hard-trained team. As I said earlier the terrain below feet wasn’t supreme but the girls toughed it out! – per usual!! Leading the team favourite-ed team home first was Aine putting an extreme race in and finishing second. The rest of our scoring girls ran superb, bringing home gold yet again this year! Such a coincidence that the girls won two all-ire lands in-a-row on the exact same course.
Before I go I’d just want to say thanks to Mrs.O’Shea for training us troughout the year with the help of Michael O’Keeffe and of course Ger Kirwan and Billy O’Keeffe.
December 19, 2014
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