Junior Men 4km 1.20pm

Patrick Flynn (Ferrybank)
Flynn was a member of the Irish team for last year’s European Championships and this year’s Celtic international and will be hoping to secure his place for this year’s European championships in Santry. With a 4th place finish in last year’s inter-counties and a silver medal in the u19 All-Ireland cross country championships Flynn definitely has the capabilities to make this year’s team. His first outing of the season at the Ballyfin Junior-Cross ’09 will serve as a good indicator of his current form.

Ryan Creech (Leevale)
After enduring a tough spell of injuries, Ryan Creech is well into his comeback and has already shown signs of being back to his best. In 2008, He was runner up at intermediate level in the Irish schools championships at 3000m and cross country. His most noteworthy performance, however, was possibly his 7th place finish in the SIAB international. An extended spell away from action followed but he got back on track this year with a silver medal winning performance in the All-Ireland junior 3000m in 8:48.70. It will be interesting to see if he can bring this form to the grassy lawns of Emo Court.

Paul Robinson (St Coca’s)
Robinson is this year’s top junior over 1500m. His time of 3:46.86 not alone qualified him for this year’s European Junior Championships but also next year’s World Junior championships. It also ranked him 10th overall in the country. His 1:50.47 clocking over 800m ranks him 6th in the country this year and second junior. He will be hoping to take this good track form into the cross country season now with the Ballyfin Junior-Cross meet his first port of call.

Liam Brady (Tullamore Harriers)
Liam is a relative newcomer to the sport and burst onto the scene this year. His first big result was a silver medal over 3000m at the Irish Schools T&F which he followed up with gold and bronze over 1500m and 3000m at the All-Ireland juvenile championships. With this experience under his belt he can be expected to show well this cross country season.

Junior Women 2km 1pm

Tekea Gebrezgi (Celtic DCH)
Gebrezgi comes into Ballyfin Junior-Cross ’09 on the back of a very impressive run at the World Mountain Running Championships where she finished in 15th position. Prior to this she had impressive runs on the track with the highlight being a silver medal at the Irish schools championships over 3000m. She was 7th at last year’s inter-counties and a slight step up this year could see her in line for a place on the Irish team when the European Championships come to Santry in December.

Eimear Black (Ballymena and Antrim)
Having finished 43rd in the 2007 edition of the European Cross Country Championships, Black will be hoping to regain her spot on the Irish team for this year’s event in Santry. She took silver in this year’s Irish Schools cross country championships and finished 4th in the schools international. She was also a member of the Irish team for the Celtic Cup indoor meet and came out of the indoor season with an impressive 1500m time of 4:37.87. Injury forced her to miss the track season but she is well on the road to recovery and should be in contention for the top spot at Ballyfin Junior-Cross ’09.

Joanne Mills (Lagan Valley)
Mills ended her spring cross country season with a silver medal in the Irish schools intermediate championships. She brought her good form to the track with her, claiming gold medals over 3000m at the Irish Schools championships and also the national u18 championships. She took silver in last year’s national u17 cross country championships and is one to watch for this season.

Eva Laverty (Lagan Valley)
Laverty will probably be one of the youngest athletes at Ballyfin Junior-Cross ’09 but nonetheless has a fine running résumé. She finished the spring cross country season in fine form with a bronze medal at the Irish Schools intermediate championships and a 20th place finish at the SIAB international. On the track, she took bronze in the Mile event at the Irish schools championships. In last year’s national juvenile cross country she took bronze at u15 level and went one better to take silver in the u16 race.

Ciara Everard (Kilkenny City Harriers)
Everard is the reigning national junior indoor and outdoor 800m champion as well as being the runner up over 400m outdoor. She is ranked 6th in the country over 800m with a time of 2:06.43 and 9th 400m with 56.58. She is number 2 on this year’s junior lists in both events. Ballyfin Junior-Cross ’09 will be a step up in distance for Everard but she did finish 10th in last year’s Inter-counties over 4km so she has experience at the longer distances also.

Mary Mulhare (North Laois)
Mary is the reigning All-Ireland u16 and u17 cross country champion from last year and also took the schools intermediate title earlier this year. Showing her talents aren’t confined to the country, she also took gold in the Irish Schools intermediate 1500m and the Tailteann Games 1500m before finishing 4th in the schools international.

Catherina Mullen (Shercock)
Catherina took bronze over 3000m indoor and outdoor in National Junior Championships this year with her indoor time of 10:27.44 (ranked 15th nationally) turning a few heads. On the country she was 4th in this year’s intermediate Irish schools championships as well as 3rd (u18) and 4th (u17) place finishes in last year’s All-Ireland championships.

Mary-Ann O’Sullivan (Tinryland)
Mary-Ann is current All-Ireland u17 champion over 1500m as well as runner-up at 800m. She finished 6th at this year’s Irish Schools cross country championships which qualified her for the SIAB international where she finished 23rd. She also finished 3rd in last year’s u16 All-Ireland championships.