Waterford duo win gold at Celtic Cross Country in Scotland

There were some fantastic performances in Scotland this weekend as a strong Irish team competed at the revived Celtic Cross Country Championships in Renfrew, just outside Glasgow.

Amongst the highlights were the gold medal winning exploits of two Waterford athletes; Harry Colbert (Waterford AC) and Lucy Holmes (West Waterford AC).

Colbert, who was part of the gold medal winning Irish U20 team at the European Cross Country Championships late last year in Brussels, won a tightly contested U20 Men’s race.

The podium placers finished within three seconds of each other with Colbert taking victory in a time of 18:09, just a second ahead of Scotland’s Logan Beagley who had to settle for silver. Fellow Irish athlete Sean Lawton (Durrus AC) claimed bronze.

David Williams (St. Senan’s AC) finished fifth, while Cian Hodgins (Nenagh Olympic AC) also finished in the top ten, in ninth.

Those excellent performances ensured that Ireland won team gold.

Holmes, who won the National Novice Cross Country Championships in Navan last month, demonstrated her talent by taking U23 gold.

In a race which also included senior and master’s athlete the Waterford athlete finished seventh overall.

Scotland’s Sarah Coutts ran strongly to claim the silver medal, while Aoife Coffey (Lucan Harriers AC) won bronze.

Alex Murphy joined Holmes on Coffey as a scorer on the Irish team which won gold.

In the U20 Women’s category, which was ran with the U17’s, Kirsty Maher (Moy Valley AC) battled hard to win bronze.

Emily Bolton (Donore Harriers) was the best of the Irish U17 Girls, finishing a fine fourth, seventh overall in a race which would’ve included athletes four years older than her, while Harry McKenzie (Enniskillen Running Club) was the top Irish performer in the Boys U17 race, finishing in sixth.

Cathal O’Reilly (Kilkenny City Harriers) finished fourth in the Men’s U23 race.

Irish Team Results

• Ireland U17 Girls – Silver – Emily Bolton, Abby Smith, Clara Casey
• Ireland U17 Girls Development – Bronze – Emily Morris, Ava Diver, Ciara Rohon
• Ireland U17 Boys – Silver – Harry McKenzie, Odhran McBrearty, Daire Matthews
• Ireland U17 Boys Development – Bronze – Liam Morris, Kai Lewis, Conor McQuirk
• Ireland U20 Women – Bronze – Kirsty Maher, Avril Millerick, Maebh Eakin
• Ireland U20 Men – Gold – Harry Colbert, Sean Lawton, David Williams
• Ireland U23 Women – Gold – Lucy Holmes, Aoife Coffey, Alex Murphy
• Ireland U23 Men – Silver – Cathal O’Reilly, Matthew Lavery, Michael Murphy

• Full results are HERE