County Athletic news by Niall O Sullivan County Senior PRO

Galbally nestled at the foot of the Galtee mountains was the setting last Sunday for the County Novice Cross Country Championships. Conditions were very good for the events and both races attracted very good entries for the early start of 10am. Once again Mooreabbey Milers AC had everything in place for a great day’s competition. The women’s 4k race saw forty-three athletes representing seven clubs while the men’s race attracted forty-five athletes from nine clubs, great to see.

The women’s race over four laps saw the early pace set by Aoife Delargy of Nenagh Olympic and Ruby Carroll of Clonmel AC with a great tussle for the 3^rd place between Orla Healy of Moyne AC and Fethard’s Laura Earley. As the race progressed. Aoife stamped her authority on proceedings and came home a very worthy and convincing winner in 15 mins 48 secs. This was a brilliant run by Aoife as she turned last year’s silver medal into this year gold. Then we had Ruby Carroll running on very well to win the silver medal in 16 mins 39 secs. Indeed, it is great to see both Aoife and Ruby emerging from the juvenile ranks and making their mark in adult competition. Orla Healy made her move midway through the race to win the bronze medal in 17 mins 5 secs. For the record Laura Earley was 4^th, Carol Molloy of Fethard AC was 5^th with Edel Delaney of Moyne AC 6^th. With both Moyne AC and Fethard AC having two athletes finished and both clubs on nine points, the strong running by Lisa Quinlan of Moyne AC over the final lap saw her finishing 7^th and that ensured Moyne AC of winning the Club title, by just one point from Fethard AC with Tanya O Brien of Fethard finishing 8^th, great competitive race. The bronze medals were won by the Clonmel trio of Ruby Carroll, Sareen Walsh 13^th and Michelle Doherty 15^th.

The Men’s 6k over six laps was also very competitive. Here as the athletes came into view at the end of the first lap, we had a group of three athletes setting the pace. They were the Thurles Crokes duo of Tom Tracey and Thomas McCarthy along with the eventual Champion Jamie Moloney of Nenagh Olympic. Then midway through the race the lead was shared by Jamie and Tom. Like his clubmate in the women’s race, Jamie stamped his authority on the race over the final two laps to come home a very worthy and convincing Champion in 20 mins 40 secs. No doubt both performances were enjoyed by their coach on the sideline, Sean Finn. Then we had Tom Treacy also running very well to win the silver medal in 21 mins 2 secs with his clubmate Thomas McCarthy winning the bronze medal in 21 mins 18 secs, great performances by all three athletes. For the record Shane Moloney of Thurles Crokes was 4^th, Mark Corcoran of Nenagh Olympic was 5^th, Michael Bourke of Mooreabbey Milers was 6^th. With Denis McCullough of Thurles Crokes finishing 7^th, this ensured that Thurles Crokes were very convincing winners of the Club title, thus bridging a gap of seven years, winning it at the Turnpike in 2018.  The silver medals were won by the Fethard AC team of Hugh Morgan 8^th, Fintan Rice 10^th, James Maher 11^th and Jack Spillane 16^th. The host club won the bronze medals with their team of Michael Bourke 6^th, Kevin Patrick Lenihan 14^th, Ger Hanley 23^rd and Liam Lewis 25^th.

Owen Fanning, County Chairman, thanked the landowner for the use of his land, he also complimented Mooreabbey Milers AC for hosting these Championships. He thanked the Clubs for supporting these Championships and he wished all the athletes the very best of luck at the Munster Juvenile and Novice Cross Country Championships on Sunday next at the new venue, the Turnpike, Two Mile Borris and hosted by Moycarkey Coolcroo AC.