Sep 26, 2010 [Noel Guiden] The Clonliffe juvenile athletes were out in force today for round 2 of the Dublin League. If last week`s turnout was impressive well then this was doubly so, with masses of black `n`amber clad youngsters in action in the Phoenix Park. The turnout in the girls U/10 race was astonishing with 17 athletes lining out in the field of 64. Once again there were very impressive performances accross all age groups with the club`s top finisher today being Ruth Bergin 2nd in the girls U/11 race, however, all the boys and girls did themselves proud.
The biggest field of the day was in the girls U/10 race where Sol and Hope both had fantastic runs finishing in 5th and 6th places, great runs also from Lola 11th and also from Amy and the two Ellas. The boys U/10 squad also ran really well, these guys looking more like a team with every outing: David 6th, Ben 10th, Fionn 11th, Sean 13th and Joshua 14th, excellent packing.
In the U/11s Ruth had a truely excellent run. however, what was most pleasing was the battling display she put on in the final 100m: powering up the hill for the finish, battling up to 3rd and then after a shoulder to shoulder last 30 m got herself into 2nd inches from the line. Very good runs also in this race from Cliona and Grace. In the boys U/11 Keelan ran a very gutsy race not letting a thing like an injury hamper his run as he battled to 7th and another very good run today from Thomas in 23rd.
We had 2 girls in the U/12 race, both of whom proved to themselves today that they are distance runners as Amy finished 18th with Cloe not far behind. The boys squad had another great team performace all finishing strongly over the second half of the race: Joseph 5th, Keith 7th, Luke 25th and Darren 29th.
Once again Alannah ran very well in the U/13s finishing 11th with a very god run also today from Tara in 17th and Mary a few places further back. Mary`s twin brother Peter was top Clonliffe in the boys race as he finished 10th with Owen in 15th.
In the U/14s as the race distance stretched out to 1500m over a tough lap incorporating the dreaded dips and hills the Clonliffe girls team got stuck in and ran very well battling away with really impressive runs from all four girls : Stephanie 11th, Laura 14th, Kate 17th and Sarah 20th. Adam again looked good in the boys race finishing very well down the home straight as he claimed 8th with James again taking places over the later part of the race in finishing 19th. Finally our sole U/15 athlete today was Eimer who faced a daunting 2,000m of the Park. A lesser athlete may not have started, let alone finished, however, Emier did both and ran very well into the bargin finishing 5th of the girls.
All the boys and girls did really well today, the Phoenix Park is not easy to run in, as they found out today there`s pain in them there hills, and it was also pretty warm today so very well done. And the good news is we`ll be doing it all again next week. Round 3, The Park.