TJ Barron Brings Home Bronze As Boys Perform Strongly

by Mr Ryan A 41-strong team from St John the Baptist BNS competed in the annual Primary Schools Cross Country Championships in Thurles on Wednesday 1 October. Twenty four 3rd/4th class pupils and 17 5th/6th class boys raced over 800 metres and 1000 metres respectively. Conditions were perfect at the Thurles Crokes venue as were underfoot conditions. The boys had trained very hard during September and were in good condition to do their very best. First off were the 3rd and 4th class boys in the second race on the day’s programme. Fabian Ryan had been showing very strongly in training and it showed on the day as he battled valiantly to finish in a very respectable fourth place overall. Fabian was in third for most of the race and was just pipped for a place on the podium. Ronan Connolly (16th), Paddy Reilly (17th) and Alex O’ Sullivan (29th) were next home to complete the top four. We finished in fifth place overall in the team event. The 5th and 6th class boys ran in the eleventh race. After their warm up, they too were ready for action. TJ Barron ran brilliantly to finish in 3rd overall followed closely by Jack McGrath in 16th place, a superb effort considering he was struggling with an injury beforehand. Ethan Gayson Molloy was one place further back in 17th while Cathal Quinn made up the first quartet from the school in 24th place. Cathal is in 5th class and this was very strong running from him again this year. The senior boys finished in fifth place overall in the team event, the same as their younger teammates. All the boys did us proud. Their behaviour was excellent, manners and courtesy exemplary and they worked very well as a team. We are all delighted with them. Thanks to Ms Liz Bourke who helped out on the day and to all the parents who came along to support their boys. Keep up the running boys! And congrats to everybody for taking part.