Cross country runners are a special breed. They laugh in the face of hurdles and make no excuses. Rough terrain, soggy pools, hedges, wind and driving rain had all the impact of a whispering breeze on the gallant students who took part in SCS' latest 5km challenge.
It seems fitting that Ferdia McAleavey, the boy who created the test that drove a huge body of students to participate, finished victorious at the end. Ferdia has always been a talented cross country runner but his heroic effort here culminated in a new personal best of 18 minutes 28 seconds, that brought him to his knees in exhaustion at the finish line from the sheer effort he put into it.
Nothing seems to slow Caoimhe Flannery's relentless climb to greater heights of achievement and so it was in this one. With her mom and sister driving in the comfort of a car behind her, Caoimhe braved the wind and drenched pot holed roads and achieved a new personal best of 19 minutes 10 seconds, shaving a phenomenal 29 seconds off her previous best time.
Ten members of my short course P.E. class made the top 20 in this challenge making them the top class in the school on this occasion. Gavin Sweetnam was the first of this class to cross the line. Gavin is a specialist 400m and 800m athlete but his 20 minutes 27 seconds shows the diversity of one of SCS' finest athletes and a third place finish here.
Donal O'Callaghan competes on a razor's edge in P.E. gaelic and basketball and brought those high standards into this challenge completing it in 20 minutes 50.
Nothing separated the Haven star Hannah Sheehy from one of our most consistent performers Daniel Nzunu with both athletes achieving a time of 24 minutes.
6th place goes to rugby legend Matthew Benn who was just 32 seconds behind. Joint seventh goes to Cathal McCarthy and Daisy Griffiths who both recorded times of 27 minutes exactly.
The great Katie Kingston came in at 28 minutes despite having to negotiate a fairly testing track with gates and ditches on route.
Ninth position is shared between two girls who are always up there in the top ten, Megan FitzGerald and Tara O'Regan who recorded the exact same time of 30 minutes 40.
Places 11 to 16 go to Diana Coakley 32 4 who is the first to put 1F on the map, Kate O'Donovan 40 minutes, Orla Seymour 43 34, Michael O'Leary, Julia Cotter and Christina Hurley.
9th Challenge:
Card Stacking:
Build the highest tower. As the last few challenges involved some quite strenuous workouts, I am giving you the task of creating the highest stack of cards that you can. All the details have been sent to you on your team App. Please send the photos of your tower to me or count the stories and let me know.
Good luck everyone and above all, have fun.
Ms. O'Mahony.
