Against the backdrop of the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, AAI recently put forward an idea aimed at promoting an opportunity for juvenile athletes from U9 to U17 to participate in a virtual Cross-Country Club Challenge. The prize structure for the Challenge is that the first 10 in each age group nationally, and the top 3 teams in each age group nationally, will be awarded medals by Athletics Ireland. National results will be available in December.
Naas AC readily agreed to take up the challenge (as we understand it over 70 Clubs nationwide have also taken up the Challenge). For our athletes in the U12-U17 age groups, the Challenge took place at the Caragh Road complex on Sunday 22 November. Our athletes in the U9-U11 ages groups did their run on Monday 23 November, also at the Caragh Road. In the region of 100 of our athletes participated. The distances run by athletes in the Challenge were as follows:
U9/U10 – 500m
U11 – 1000m
U12/U13/U14/U15 – 1500m
U16/U17 – 2000m
In line with Covid-19 regulations maximum pods of 15 athletes ran together.
Details of the times run by our athletes can be found in the attached document. In the context of Covid this was a great opportunity for some of our athletes to run their first ever race and for others to get in some welcome race practice. Either way congratulations to all those that took part!