Cross Country season kicked off in earnest yesterday with the first round of the juvenile leagues taking place on home turf in the stunning surroundings of Ardgillan castle. Despite the biggest sporting clash of the year taking place later in the day at GAA headquarters, the numbers competing from clubs all over Dublin and indeed guest clubs from Meath certainly didn’t disappoint. In the younger age groups, from u9s up there were on average between 50 and 60 children in each race. Thankfully the weather held up for the morning with conditions near to perfect for our budding young athletes. The course itself featured a few tricky hills combined with a steep downward slope, nevertheless all the athletes showed their steeliness in negotiating their way around the course. From a Skerries perspective there were a number of stand out performances with both Conor Tuck and Orla Bollard coasting to victory in their races. Well done to everyone and many thanks to those from both Skerries AC and Lusk AC who built the course over the weekend, to parents who helped with stewarding and to the coaches for preparing the children. Full results as follows:

u9 Girls 400m
13th Shauna Prior
18th Sophie Munro
24th Tara Naessens
46th Emer Fanning
59th Emma Fanning

u9 Boys 400m
15th Hugo May
24th Turlough McDonnell
25th Paulo Fanning
30th Daire McCaughey

u10 Girls 600m
11th Nicole Hackett
14th Chloe Ericson
19th Keva Ndjatang
24th Laura Woods
30th Lauren Bryce
32nd Lily Tinkler
34th Isabella McIvor Lynch
36th Emily O’Sullivan

u10 Boys 600m
10th Cillian Emmett
25th Darragh Payne

u11 Girls 800m
3rd Daphney Ndjatang
43rd Muireann McDonnell
46th Clare Fanning

u11 Boys 800m
3rd Moses O’Brien
23rd Ben Parker
28th Henry Sexton
29th Luke Ryan
31st Oscar McIvor Lynch

u12 Boys 1000m
3rd Lorcan Devine
23rd Paul Byrne
24th Ben Glennon
26th Daniel Munro

u13 Girls 1000m
2nd Vita OBrien
25th Ella Kingsnorth
43rd Cressida Amaniampong
45th Naomi Ndjatang

u13 Boys 1000m
4th Joshua Ericson
10th Oliver McQuaid
12th James Kenny
19th Hugh Lawlor

u14 Girls 1200m
4th Ruby Pereira
6th Lily Heaney
8th Lottie Simons
26th Kerrie Costello
31st Mia Lourenzo Gilmore

u15 Girls 1500m
6th Anna Prior
13th Ellen Walsh

u15 Boys 1500m
22nd Stephen Byrne

u16-u20 Girls 2000m (Combined race)
1st Orla Bollard (1st Junior)
2nd Laura Costello (2nd Junior)
3rd Aine McCarthy (3rd Junior)
6th Eibhlin McCarthy (3rd u17)
7th Aoimhe Downey (1st u18)
10th Mairead Ni Chleirigh (2nd u16)

u17 Boys 3000m
1st Conor Tuck