ANNALEE AC ATHLETES ARE 2005 ULSTER CROSSCOUNTRY CHAMPIONS

The Ulster Even age cross country championships took place in Ballyclare, Co Antrim on Saturday 5^th November. There was a large turnout with almost all of the races fielding 50 or more athletes. Annalee Athletics Club athletes had a very successful day with two new Ulster champions, an individual silver medal, an individual 4^th place; top ten finishes in many races along with one first and two second place finishes in the Club competition. Annalee athletes made up the full Cavan team that took third place in the U10 girls Intercounty race. Cavan were just pipped for first place in the U14 Boys Intercounty category where Annalee athletes combined with Bailieboro AC for the county team.

Annalee’s Caoimhin O’Reilly won the u10 boys 600m race by a full 8 seconds. He dominated the second half of the race and won easily. In the same race Annalee had strong performances from Ciaran Schutten (4^th) and Aodhagan Watters (6^th) and Paul Sexton. The Annalee quartet secured 1^st place in the hotly contested club competition. The U10 girls also performed brilliantly in the very difficult wet conditions. Clodagh O’Reilly finished 8^th and the rest of the team finished strongly to take the silver medal in the club competition. The six Annalee members of Clodagh, Sarah McDonald, Orla Murphy, Aisling Brady, Aine Brady and Sarah Murray were the six scoring members in the Cavan County team and took home 3^rd place in the InterCounty races.

Success continued in the U12 girls where Eadaoin O’Reilly won another Ulster silver medal, finishing just behind the winner. The remaining Annalee AC team members of Kate McDonald, Laura Young, Aoife Murphy, Maria McIntyre and Bronagh McBreen didn’t score strongly enough to place but many of these athletes will be eligible to run in this age group next year and should take heart from their performance on the day. The U12 Annalee and Cavan athletes of John Brady, Padraig Moore and Darren Watters were led home by Barry Cooney of Drumlin AC, who finished 4th but regrettably, they didn’t have enough athletes for a full county or club team, The U14 Boys race was a  hardfought race but Annalee AC’s Cian O’Reilly won with a strong final 600m. Bailieboro AC athletes Nigel Farrelly and Niall Comey were 6^th and 7^th respectively and Annalee athlete Ryan Little finished 8^th. Having four Cavan athletes in the top ten out of a field of 86 is an outstanding achievement. Annalee AC’s other athletes in the race were Francis Moore, Damien McKiernan and Francis McConnell. The Annalee team were awarded silver in the club competition and the county also took silver in the Intercounty Races. Fionan O’Reilly was 9^th in the 5000m U18 Boys race. In the Boys U16 3000m race, Aodhagan O’Reilly, Ciaran Fitzgerald, Ryan McCabe and Pauric McGurran all ran well in the heavy conditions. Other Cavan athletes competing included James Muldoon representing Shercock AC who finished 17^th in the 5000m and Catherine Mullen of Drumlin had a top ten finish in the U14 Girls.