Mayo running ace swoops to another stunning success
Freya Renton of Sacred Heart School Westport celebrates at the finish line after winning the inter girls event during the 123.ie All Ireland Schools' Cross Country Championships in Co Antrim on Saturday. Picture: Thomas Flinkow/Sportsfile
There was yet another sensational performance by Mayo teenager Freya Renton at the 123.ie All-Ireland Schools Cross Country Championships held at the Mallusk Playing Fields outside Belfast on Saturday.
The Westport runner romped to victory in the intermediate girls race and remarkably, her time of 11m08s over the 3,500m course was 22 seconds faster than the winning time in the senior girls race over the same distance, which was won by Emma Hickey from New Ross in Wexford.
It’s worth bearing in mind that Hickey won bronze in the U20 race at last December’s European Cross Country Championships.
In fact, Freya Renton’s pace was such that it helped carry those who raced to second and third behind her in the intermediate race, Ava Colreavy of Ursuline College Sligo and Madison Welby of Friends’ School in Lisburn, to also finish in times quicker than Hickey in the senior.
Renton, representing Sacred Heart Westport, dominated from gun to tape, running solo from the start and never relenting with a display that later saw her awarded with the Rory Friel Memorial Trophy for performance of the day.
Also among the medals for Mayo was Roxane Sands who won bronze representing St Joseph’s of Castlebar in the junior girls 2,500m. She crossed the line in 8m26s in a race won by Ailbhe Finucane of Loreto Stephen's Green in 8m17s.
Balla Secondary School’s Niamh Devaney was 19th in the same race.
Other notable performers on the day included Freyna Renton’s twin sister Holly who finished fourth in the intermediate girls, Donnacha Walsh of Rice College in Westport who was 11th in the junior boys and Daniel Gallagher of St Muredach’s College, Ballina who ran to 14th in the minor boys.
