In Mr. Lonergan’s native Tipp, the lambs will soon be gambling around the pastures green, and nothing can better warm a country boy’s heart than that sight, but today’s cross country race at Blackrock College must come a very close second. After months of watching the students’ heads sag behind their masks and covid restrictions, the kids were finally allowed to run free in the sun and the wind and the cold! Mind you, the more stationary Mr. Lonergan and Mr. Keenan were happy to have worn their long-johns, but the sheer delight with which our motley group of First through Third Years took to the freedom of the fields was a joy to see. And the different relay teams competed well, especially the Third Years, as they kept pace with schools who have daily running regimens, and finished very respectfully. Perhaps, there was no podium place, but the boys and girls involved were winners, nevertheless: victorious over our endemic inertia!