The Connaught Even Ages Cross Country Championship attracted over 550 runners from throughout the Western Region to compete in Moyne, Co. Longford on November 1st.  Athletics clubs from the 6 counties sent their best to run on the challenging course with its deceptive steep hill finish in hopes of a qualifying place for the Athletics Ireland National Finals.  Westport athletic club completely dominated the event winning four team gold, one team silver, three individual gold, five silvers and one bronze. 
The U12 girls were first into action in the 2000m race. Roisin O’Brien was the leading runner for the team and in a close finish came home in second place after a brilliant race.  Roisin was followed by Laura Moran in 12th and together with Katie O’Grady, Sophie Scahill, Niamh Reilly and Aoife Staunton, all running their hearts out, resulted in Westport’s first team gold of the day, together with county gold,.
The U12 boys were next into battle in their 2000m where Conal Dawson was Westport’s first runner home in second place after a strong performance, followed closely by Sean Heaney in 5th, James Marrey in 6th, together with Niall McGreal, Colin Hastings, Finbar McLaughlin, Danny Brennan and Joe Sweet winning the gold medal for the team with an impressive 37 points, a full 39 points ahead of silver place and also scooping team gold for the county.
The next race of the day was the U14 girls 3000m where Saoirse O'Brien ran a fantastic race storming home with the gold medal. Saoirse was followed by her teammates Eimhear Corduff and Ella Staunton who both ran extremely well contributing to another county gold.

Next up was the race of the day for Westport, where the U14 boys all ran a brilliant 3000m. First home for the team was Malcolm MacEvilly taking the silver medal(running out of age) followed closely by Rossa McAllister taking the bronze followed by Oisin Ryall in fourth, Ethan Llyod in fifth, Shane O’Malley(also out of age) in seventh, Tim Campion in tenth and Joshua Lally in twelfth. Next home were Joe Grady, Ronan O’Donnell and Kian Moore. This resulted in the club winning team gold for one team and team silver for a second team – an unbelievable achievement for these boys.  It also contributed to Mayo winning county gold.

Next up was the U16 girls 4000m, where Anna O’Riain(running out of age)came twelfth followed by Sarah Mulchrone and con-tributed to Mayo team silver. Just after that in the U16 boys 4000m, Cian McAllister ran a fantastic race winning the gold medal, followed closely by Shane Ryall taking silver, followed by Luke Dawson(running out of age) in sixth and John Keane in seventh, an impressive performance for his first Connaught Championships. These excellent performances led to the boys winning gold for both club and county.

The next race was the U18 girls 4000m where Sorcha McAlister stormed home in first place taking gold, followed closely by in second place by Aoife O’Brien(running out of age)- an ex-cellent result for these two girls.  While the girls did not have enough for a team, they will be representing both coun-ty and province in the All-Irelands. The next race was the boys U18 6000m where Alex O’Riain ran so well out of age, coming seventh ensuring qualification for the Connaught team.

The All-Ireland Even Age Cross Country Championship takes place on Sunday 22nd November in Santry Park, Dublin.