Longford athletes bring home the medals after successful National Cross Country Championships

A fantastic performance by Emma Brennan saw her win gold in the Under-15 girls 2500 metres race as she led home the field of 89 entrants with a strong display of front-running. In a close finish, Emma showed her speed to edge clear of Rachel Keaney (Newbridge AC) approaching the finish line. Interestingly, Rachel is a niece of none other than Ray Flynn. A superb National title for Drumlish girl Emma to add to the Community Games 800m gold she won last year on the track.

Longford’s second gold of the day came in the Masters Women’s 4000 metres when Fiona Gettings continued her recent great form taking first place in the F40 category. The recent dry spell led to fast running on the mainly firm ground as Fiona positioned well among the lead group early on. She showed her strength to continue at a strong pace to finish second place overall of the 141 finishers and top spot in her age group. This is the first time ever a Longford AC member has won gold at the very competitive Nationals Masters cross country event.

Earlier, Rian McCaffrey won bronze in the boys Under-13 1500m with an excellent run and helped Longford to win team bronze as well. Ardagh’s Rian got out fast to place near the front and showed no fatigue towards the end to finish well and claim a podium spot. Oisín Dillon placed 15th and soon after came Daniel Higgins and Eoin Grehan with good performances also to give an overall score of 123 points ensuring third place in the team standings. 

The opening race of the day saw a brilliant run by Julie Taitt in the Under-11 girls 1000m placing 26th of the 132 finishers and was followed by a very good run by her sister Sarah in the Under-13 1500m girls race showing her strength to place well.

On Saturday night, The Armory in New York hosted the Millrose Games and included excellent performances by young Longford athletes Vilte Kraskova and Jairo Aklassou. The children, both aged eight, took part in the Fastest Kid In The World races with Vilte placing sixth in the girls race and Jairo eighth in the boys’ 55 metres. A fantastic experience for the speedy duo who have enjoyed a great five-day visit to the ‘Big Apple’ which included meeting current stars of track and field as well as Irish athletics legends Ray Flynn and Eamonn Coghlan.