Hunter leads Irish home in 21st

25 June, 2016 - Gerry Brady

The 11th holding of the International Youth Cup was held in Janske Lazne on 25th June. Unusually it was held on an uphill only course with the girls ascending 300 metres over 2,900m and the boys starting lower down the course to have 580m ascent over 4,800m. The Irish girl’s team was relatively inexperienced and found the course very challenging. Omagh Harriers athlete Caelainn McQuaid led the team home in 32nd followed by Aoife Colleran (DSD), Eva Roche (St. Laurence O’Toole), and Aisling King (DSD). McQuaid was fourth in the Irish Schools intermediate 1500m steeplechase event and she can build upon her run. Colleran will be pleased to have improved from fourth in the trial race to second Irish runner here.

The boy’s team was more experienced and Alex Hunter (Ratoath AC) had a very solid run in 21st position which shows good progress from 2015 when he was 40th. Iosac Coleman finished 34th which is a good start to his international mountain running career. A Winter of cross-country racing combined with his strength from mountain-biking would put him in a good position for the junior level championships in 2017.
Cian McDonald (Ballyroan Abbeyleix) was 60th and he will be eligible again in 2017. Jack McCullough (Dunleer AC) was unfortunate in his preparations having to mix studying for exams with nursing an injury and he had to stop during the race.

GIRL’S INDIVIDUAL (2.9 km / 300m climb, 55 finishers)
1. Barbora Havlizkova (CZE) 19:36
2. Fatma Bizek (TUR) 19:49
3. Nadia Battocletti (ITA) 19:57
32. Caelainn McQuaid (IRL) 22:50
42. Aoife Colleran (IRL) 24:05
51. Eva Roche (IRL) 25:38
52. Aisling King (IRL) 26:56

GIRL’S TEAM (14 teams)
1. Poland (4,10,13) 27
2. Turkey (2,11,14) 27
3. Italy (3,6,19) 28
12. Ireland (32,42,51) 125

BOY’S INDIVIDUAL (4.8 km / 580m climb, 65 finishers)
1. Ahmet Alknoglu (TUR) 26:19
2. Orhan Ozturk (TUR) 26:21
3. Ibrahim Ozevin (TUR) 26:40
21. Alex Hunter (IRL) 29:29
34. Iosac Coleman (IRL) 31:14
39. Scott McKeag (NIR) 31:53
50. Aaron Harrison (NIR) 32:56
55. Jack O’Farrell (NIR) 34:22
59. Ethan Dunn (NIR) 34:53
60. Cian McDonald (IRL) 34:54

BOY’S TEAM (17 teams)
1. Turkey I (1,2,4) 7
2. Turkey II (3,7,12) 22
3. Italy (8,14,20) 42
12. Ireland (21,34,60) 115
15. Northern Ireland (39,50,55) 144