To quote Steve Magness: “Cross Country is a great metaphor for life. From the outside, it looks like an individual sport.
A bunch of people running their own race. But in reality, it’s a team sport. The sooner we embrace the team aspect, the better we perform, and the more joy and connection we create.”
This is Championship Cross Country running to a tee, and in Raheny we have great groups of underage athletes who have formed formidable bonds over the years, none moreso than the girls u17 team who won gold in the Dublin Championships this year for the first time and the boys u17 team who ran out of their skins at Nationals to come away with 3rd club.
It’s not all rosy either, with everyone having their ups and downs from race to race but everyone supports each other through the tough races and celebrates the good ones.
The 2024 cross country season commenced in Donabate with the first Dublin cross country league race on September 15th and finished in Tramore with the National Juvenile Uneven Ages Championships on December 1st.
Over 100 athletes competed for the club during this period (some did seven races over the space of 11 weekends!!).
Dublin Cross Country Leagues
Dublin cross country league races are held over three different Sundays. Points are awarded to athletes based on their positions in each race and prizes are awarded to the top six athletes at the end of the year.
Consistency is key. Last year, we had five top six finishers and another four top 10 finishers. This year, we had nine top six finishers and another ten top 10 finishers on top of that, with both first and second in both u16 girls and u17 girls.
Top Six Finishers
Ben Synott – 2nd U11
Noah Mongey – 5th U15
Claire O’Leary – 1st U16
Sophie Kelly – 2nd U16
Joseph Kirwin – 4th U16
Rachel Costello – 1st U17
Chloe Griffin – 2nd U17
Esther Ntoko – 4th U17
Daniel Connolly – 4th U17
Dublin Juvenile Even Ages Cross Country Championships
The Dublin Juvenile Even Ages Cross Country Championships took place in the Phoenix Park.
Our U16 girls team of Claire O’Leary, Sophie Kelly, Georgina Bruen Liston, and Sophie Dickinson qualified to represent the club at the National Championships.
Individual Medallists
U16 girls – Claire O’Leary, Sophie Kelly
U18 girls – Rachel Costello
U18 boys – Conrad Latham
National Juvenile Even Ages Cross Country Championships
The National Juvenile Even Ages Cross Country Championships took place on a challenging course in Fermanagh.
The aforementioned girl’s u16 team finished 14th overall, with Claire picking up a silver medal on the Dublin County Team.
Dublin Juvenile Uneven Ages Cross Country Championships
The Dublin Juvenile Uneven Ages Cross Country Championships took place in Citywest. We picked up medals in several different age groups and the girls and boys u17 teams qualified for the National Uneven Ages Cross Country Championships in Tramore.
The girl’s team of Claire O’Leary, Rachel Costello, Esther Ntoko, Chloe Griffin, Freyja O’Carroll, Sarah Canavan, Sophie Kelly, and Cara Griffin won the Dublin Championship – a first for the club in many years.
The boys team of Conrad Latham, Finn Kenehan, George Sevastopulo, Tom Collier, and Liam Mancini Moore picked up silver medals.
Individual Medallists
U11 girls – Una Rafter
U11 boys – Ben Synott
U15 girls – Georgina Bruen Liston
U17 girls – Claire O’Leary, Rachel Costello
U17 boys – Conrad Latham, Finn Kenehan
U19 boys – Jamie Rankin Whelan
National Juvenile Uneven Ages Cross Country Championships
The National Juvenile Even Ages Cross Country Championships took place in Tramore.
Early indications were that it may not be as challenging a course as Enniskillen but it proved equally tough.
Ben Synott scored on the Dublin u11 bronze medal winning team, a first national medal for Ben. Una Rafter ran a great race in the girl’s u11s. Georgina Bruen Liston finished a brilliant 50th in the girls u15 race after a great season.
Then in the girls u17 race, the girls team of Claire O’Leary, Rachel Costello, Esther Ntoko, Sarah Canavan and Freyja O’Carroll finished 11th club, with Claire picking up yet another National Medal on the Dublin Gold medal winning team.
In the boys u17 race, Conrad Latham, Finn Kenehan, Tom Collier, George Sevastopulo, and Theo Duffy pulled off a great race to come away with 3rd club, a massive achievement for the lads. Conrad also medalled on the Dublin County and province teams.
In the u19 boys race, Jamie Rankin Whelan finished 33rd, a great return to form by Jamie after missing the early part of the season through injury.
Autumn Open National Juvenile Relays
As a club we also had a massive turnout of athletes on the National stage at the National Juvenile Cross Country relays in Abbottstown, with boys and girls teams in almost all age groups, and a staggering 4 teams in the u17 mixed 4 x 1000m race.
Without summarising every race, two of note were our u15 girls team of Aoibhean O’Malley, Georgina Bruen Liston, Sophie Dickinson, and Saoirse McCarthy finishing an agonising fourth place in their race, fabulous for the girls to be so close to national silverware, yet heartberaking at the same time.
In the U17 mixed relay, Rachel Costello, Conrad Latham, Claire O’Leary, and George Sevastopulo also finished fourth.
The future is green and white.
