Cobh

Congratulations Lilly Frawley on finishing 8th in Ireland at the All-Ireland x-country championships under 13 at Gowran in Kilkenny. I was just coming out the Church in Dover after celebrating mass for my late sister Margaret RIP. I would have loved to have been there for the race because I was convinced after the training she had done that she had the ability to finish in the top 10 in Ireland, pretty ambitious you would think when you consider nearly 200 in the race from all over Ireland and it was just her 3rd race of the season having finished 3rd in East Cork 6th in Munster and now 8th In Ireland.&nbsp;
One individual top 10 medal in the bag and another gold with Munster in the team race. Ava Chandler 13 years old ran in the under 15 race. I got word that Ava despite getting sick early in the race showed great courage to finish 71st in the field, she was selected for the race after finishing 9th for Cork at the Munster championships, she improved a place to finish 8th Cork girl.&nbsp;

<img src="https://d2hz75cbudexsj.cloudfront.net/insideAppNews/images/865e47f1-9f27-40e9-9b86-d9e6ce5f9a0e.jpg" alt="undefined" style="float:none;height: auto;width: auto"/>

At 13 years of age she moved up an age group and in light of the circumstances, it was a very brave race from a girl who has fantastic commitment and attitude. Like Lilly, she is a top-class tennis player as well. From a personal perspective, I have known both since they were 8-year-olds, getting to know them at Bunscoil Rinn an Chabhlaigh in Rushbrooke, where they showed great promise. In January they started a training program with the aim to qualify for the National finals.&nbsp;
Carrignafoy Community College Sportsfield was the only grounds open to the public. We selected the longest lap circuit we could find totally on grass, I never allow young athletes to run on hard surfaces. We started with a time trial and both were timed at 3.05. They began easy runs starting with 10 minutes and training 5 times a week until they were able to run comfortably for an hour non-stop.&nbsp;
Ironically the day they reached the hour mark, I was in Kerry for the funeral mass of another sister, but their parents did the needful, and on that score, it's vital to have parental support. The following day it was time to do another time trial, this time they both improved by 10 seconds, and with at least one day a week club training with Ballymore with the other training they fitted in to suit their school and tennis schedules, they could not have done anymore to prepare for the All-Irelands.&nbsp;
A further measure of the improvement since January can be gauged by their final workout on Wednesday at Carrignafoy, they both covered the 750m circuit 3 times without stopping, with each of the laps averaging 2 minutes 54 seconds. That's the kind of improvement that regular training brings and so important for those who wish to reach a higher level in sport in whatever sport they are involved in. Well done again to both girls. Enjoy a good break, it's very well deserved.

Brilliant Runs from Lilly and Ava - All Ireland X Country

DOWNLOAD AND XPLORE