Limerick primary schools gearing up for the return of cross country racing in the county

PRIMARY SCHOOL cross country is returning to Limerick this Thursday at South Liberties GAA with festivities getting under way at 10AM. 

This will involve 9 schools and over 150 children.

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The competition has made its return with special thanks to Niall Shanahan, a teacher at Knockea National School, who has spear-headed the return of the competition.

"I decided to set it up to encourage children who may not have tried athletics before. There is obviously a lot of focus on GAA, soccer and rugby in schools and I felt that there wasn't much of an opportunity for children to try athletics especially at this time of the year."

"It would be great for other schools in Limerick to take on the initiative of maybe approaching their local GAA club and then coming together with other schools in their local area to take part in a cross country meet," he said.

"I am very grateful that South Liberties GAA club have given me the use of the facilities and my hope is that next year we could have a finals day, with the winning schools from different cross competitions taking part.

From talking with their different schools, there is huge interest and hopefully in a few years time every child in primary schools around Limerick will have the opportunity to do cross country," Niall added.