Lizzie Lee today fulfilled the promise she has shown since taking up distance running in earnest, in finishing 2nd at the National Inter-Counties Cross Country Championships, held in Derry today. Along with the podium finish comes automatic qualification for the Irish team to compete at the European Cross Country Championships, which will be held in Portugal next month.
Louise Shanahan undertook the long track to Derry to represent Leevale in the juvenile even age cross country championships. The snow started to fall before the girls U14 lined up for their race, but this did not deter Louise who ran an excellent race to finish in 8th place overall. She was the second Cork girl home and the third for Munster, and was key to Cork team’s second place and Munster’s team victory.
Leevale were also represented in the high-quality senior and junior men’s events, both Mark Hanrahan and Ryan Creech gaining top-10 finishes. Mark, in 10th place, was just 15 seconds off the top 4, while Ryan did very well to finish 8th after missing weeks of training recently due to injury. All races were held in extremely heavy snow, which began just minutes before the juvenile events started.
More photos from Gearóid Ó Laoi.