Last Friday, the Cross Country Team put in a heroic effort to earn Scoil Naomh Pádraig a set of bronze medals in the Cumann na mBunscol Kildare Primary Schools Championships. A team of twelve runners took to the fields of Hawkfield to compete against the very best of Kildare County. Having finished an agonising 4th place at last year’s competition and only 1 point shy of the bronze medal position, the boys were determined to place themselves on the podium this year. At the beginning of the year the team set goals of finishing in the top 3 places and bettering last year’s score of 90 points (the lower the points total, the better the score).
As the gun fired to signal the start of the 1.5km race, the boys made very promising starts to try and position themselves close to the front of the 130 strong field of runners. At the halfway point, James Carroll and Michael Adedeji were right up in contention and placed themselves in the top 10. Fintan Carroll and the surging Dylan O’Reilly followed closely behind whilst David Ijoma and Rhys Hayden manoeuvred through the middle of the pack. As the race approached the final stages, the blistering early pace began to take its toll on many of the harriers but the boys of Scoil Naomh Pádraig dug in deep and fought all the way to the finish line. James Carroll ran the race of his life to finish in 4th place, just outside the individual medals. This was a huge improvement on his 41st place finish from last year and more importantly it helped put down a low score for his team. Next to cross the line was Michael Adedeji in 20th place. Michael put in a heroic performance and gave every ounce of energy he had. Within seconds of Michael finishing, team captain David Ijoma charged through the field over the final stages to finish in an impressive 23rd place. With three runners over the finish line, the team awaited their next finisher and final scorer. It looked like a top 30 finish would secure the team a set of medals and with that along came Fintan Carroll in 26th place. Fintan ran a hugely impressive race and rounded out the team’s scoring of 73 points (4 + 20 + 23 + 26). Dylan O’ Reilly was the school’s next finisher in 35th place. This was an amazing run considering Dylan is still only in second class. I have no doubt that Dylan with be challenging for the individual title in a couple of years…..watch this space! Next up was the ever consistent Rhys Hayden who finished hot on the heels of Dylan. The team was backed up with fantastic runs by Bernard Ibirigoba, Michael Ijoma, Teighan Klimuk, Derek McCabe, Kian McGowan and Albin Binu.
With the race completed, the boys packed up their gear and nervously awaited the final results. Fingers and toes were crossed but after a few anxious moments it was announced that Scoil Naomh Pádraig of The Curragh finished in 3rd place. With 158 schools competing on the day, Scoil Naomh Pádraig was only one of nine boys schools to go home with a set of medals. It was a great achievement and just reward for all the hard work and dedication shown by the boys over the year. Well done to the twelve boys who represented the school with such pride but a special mention must also go to the twenty other members of the Cross Country Club who played a big part in the team’s success. With so many of the boys returning next year, the future looks bright!
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