October sees the return of the cross country season in athletics and this year Innyvale AC hosted the opening day of the Cavan Championships in scenic Crover on the edge of Lough Sheelin on Sunday 1st October. In action on the day were the masters and juvenile even age groups, with good numbers taking part in all race. The club was very well represented in the event with good numbers taking part and many strong individual and team performances throughout the day.

First to get underway were the master men’s and women’s races, which proved to be very fruitful for Innyvale. While we had nobody in the women’s race today, we had a good turnout in the men’s 5K race. The V1 team of Rob Everett, Simon Nulty and Donagh Reilly were the gold medalist team, with Rob in second place, Simon in third and Donagh in fourth place. In the V3 category, Martin Brady was the winner with Brendan Tully in third place.

This was a very strong result from the club and it was enough to see the Vincent Rudden Memorial Shield awarded to Innyvale for the first time.

Next up were the Under 10 girls, which featured a packed field for the 600m race.

We had four runners in the event with Katie Hannan taking the silver medal, Robyn Everett finishing in third, Heidi Donohoe in eleventh and Navah O’Donohue in fourteenth. The four girls will collect a hard earned silver medal as their combined score of the foursome saw them finish as second placed team in the race.

The boys event was a tightly contested race that saw multiple tight battles right up to the finish line itself. The Innyvale athletes put in a team strong performance to take the silver medals, with Oisin Tully finishing in third place, just missing out on silver over the final meters. Eánna Coll came home in fourth, followed by Logan Rotheram, with Jackson Everett in sixth, James Farrelly eighth, Javed Brady twelfth, Rory Donohoe fourteenth and Callum Rotheram fifthteenth.

In the U12 girls, more than half the runners were wearing the Innyvale singlet as they set off for their 1200m race. Kayla Smith was the first of our athletes to reach the finish, claiming the silver medal, with Sophie Lynch in fourth, Jamie Condon in fifth, Neasa Smith seventh, Íosa Brady eighth, Íosa Lynch tenth, Zoe Tully eleventh, Riley Condon thirteenth and Maia Reilly fourteenth. This was a dominant team performance from the girls which secured them first place and the team gold.

We didnt have a team in the boys event, but three ran and gave a very good account of themselves. Iarlaith Coll completed the 1200m distance in third place, with Conor Smith tenth and Tony Rotheram in thirteenth.

The U14 event stepped up in distance once again, with the athletes tackling a 2000m race. Our girls team persevered to the end of the tough race, scoring another set of silver team medals for the girls. Isabella Condon was the first Innyvale athlete home in fifth place, with Mella Brady in seventh, Aoife Leddy tenth, Emer Briody eleventh and Emma Briody in twelfth position.

In the boys race, James Brady finished in a fine fourth place after spending much of the two kilometre race holding off a chasing pack of four athletes before pulling away from them in the latter stages.

Well done to one and all for their efforts and for representing the club so well. Also a huge thank you to all the parents, coaches and other volunteers who helped prepare the course, clean up afterwards and other jobs during the event. Thanks also to the Donohoes for their assistance and the use of their field, Crover House Hotel for their facilities and sandwiches, MK Sound, the Gaffney family and Cavan County Council.

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Photos from the day are now on our Flickr gallery (click here) and full results are on the results page.