Very proud of this lady below. Joanna Hess contacted me 5 months ago with a personal best of 1hr 56 mins to her name but her running life time goal was to break 1:50 for the half marathon,with that she promised she’d happily retire.It wasn’t always easy trying to balance a very hectic life, married with 4 young children and running her own business left her pretty much always time poor and progress was initially slow. With patience and perseverance she finally broke 1:50 in the Rock N Roll Half last month with 1:49, lowering it further again to 1:48 in Athlone. Then a week later in the recent Dublin Half marathon she ran the race of her life with a very impressive 1:44.

The first of the juvenile Cross Country leagues kicked off this morning in the spectacular surroundings of Ardgillan Demesne. It was fantastic to see so many of the various clubs athletes from all over Dublin out in force with numbers of around 80 from Skerries AC alone taking part. Each and every one of the kids ran their hearts out and they can all be very proud of their performances. Many thanks to all those who helped in any way, those who spent the past 2 days setting up the course, all the parents who helped warm up the children and ensure they were taken to the start line for their race and to those who marshalled the course. Your help as always is invaluable to the club.

Results Cross Country League 1 – Ardgillan 14.09.14
u9 Girls 400m
8th Chloe Ericson
12th Keva Ndjatang
17th Nicole Hackett
19th Laura Woods
25th Shauna Prior
30th Isabella McIvor Lynch
32nd Sophie Munro

u9 Boys 400m
9th Cillian Emmett
15th Sam Kingsnorth
28th Tadhg McCaughey
29th Paulo Fanning

u10 Girls 600m
3rd Dapney Ndjatang
16th Natasha Byrne
20th Daisy Pereira
35th Clare Fanning
37th Erica Keegan
43rd Aoife McGuinness

u10 Boys 600m
2nd Moses O’Brien
18th Oscar McIvor Lynch
20th Sam Burgess
25th Sean Leddy
28th Conor Smith

u11 Girls 800m
23rd Laura Fagan

u11 Boys 800m
3rd Lorcan Devine
6th Ethan Shannon
13th Ronan Geoghegan
18th Altan Holland
30th Ben Glennon
31st Daniel Munro

u12 Girls 1000m
5th Vita O’Brien
10th Ella Kingsnorth
15th Kate Naessens
16th Faye McGloughlin
26th Ciara Prior
36th Heather McGloughlin
41st Ella Walsh
46th Eimear Leddy
47th Cressida Amaniampong
54th Grace Cousins
55th Linzi Harrison
64th Naomi Ndjatang

u12 Boys 1000m
3rd Joshua Ericson
8th Oliver McQuaid
16th Sean Emmett
24th Charlie Hackett

u13 Girls 1000m
2nd Ruby Pereira
11th Lottie Simons
30th Niamh Cotter
33rd Alice Grimes
35th Ciara Whelan
38th Kerrie Costello
44th Ailbhe Kennedy
47th Ciara Matthews

u13 Boys 1000m
11th John fanning
15th Cian Ensor
16th Brian Walsh

u14 Girls 1200m
10th Anna Calvez
11th Anna Prior
12th Ellen Walsh
20th Ella May

u14 Boys 1200m
16th Ethan Forristal

u15 Girls 1500m
5th Mairead Ni Chleirigh
7th Sarah Whelan
12th Saoirse Waddilove
17th Emma Grimes

u15 Boys 1500m
3rd Stephen O’Connor
14th Jodi McIvor

u16 Girls 2000m
2nd Eibhlin McCarthy
12th Lauren Byrne

u16 Boys 2000m
2nd Conor Tuck

u18 Girls 2000m
1st Laura Costello
2nd Aine McCarthy
3rd Ellen Tuck