AprilShowcase11

I first became interested in cross-country when I was in 6th class in St. Josephs
B.N.S. I took part in athletics, such as cross-country and sprints at
Santry. During the year, my fellow classmates and I took part in athletics at Santry.
It didn't go too well and, after that, I was determined to do better. I heard that
there was cross-country on, so I decided to go. It went well and the team finished
in second place.

I arrived in Moyle Park College the following year. I was even more interested
in cross-country than sprints. After training with Mr. O'Reilly, I discovered that
I had a talent for cross-country races. Then, in the month of April 2009, our
cross-country team travelled to Tempelogue to take part in an event. I was running
in the under-fourteen race alongside my fellow student Adam Craig. The race
went well with Adam coming first and me finishing third. The overall team came
in second place. I was delighted with my progress in running.

In second year we had another event in the Phoenix Park for which we had
been training hard for several weeks before. The day of the race came with my
team in good shape. There were many runners (around 200) and this made the
race difficult with me finishing in 23rd place and my fellow classmate Adam Craig
finishing in 10 place. We were happy enough with this result but had more work
to do.

Third year came around and I was focused to achieve more. There was an
event in the Phoenix Park again to which I couldn't go because of an injury. This
frustrated me and left me longing for another event. To my delight Mr O'Reilly
came to me and told me there was another race happening. I began to prepare
for it, training regularly. The day of the race came and I was looking forward to it.
I was running in the under-fifteen race which was 1.5 kilometres. There were
around one hundred people racing. I came first in this race and I was over the
moon as I had reached my goal. My team came second. The whole outing
was good with all my team-mates wining medals on the day. Unfortunately
Adam could not make it because of an illness.

At the moment my team and I are training for an event in Santry which is shorter
than the cross-country. It is taking place in April. We are looking forward to it.

I would like to thank Mr O'Reilly for helping me to achieve so much.

Malik Ogungbo 3rd Year