County Athletic news by Niall O Sullivan County Senior PRO

The National Novice Cross Country Championships took place in Abbottstown last Sunday where conditions were soft and heavy in parts. Still, this didn’t deter the athletes as there were some brilliant performances from County athletes on the day.

The women’s 4k race attracted a very good entry with the underfoot conditions demanding after the Juvenile programme of events. Right from the start the pace was strong and every position was hard fought for. Aoife Delargy Nenagh Olympic was well positioned throughout the race and ran a brilliant race when finishing 12^th in 16 mins 42 secs. Then we had Laura Cooney Clonmel AC also putting in a determined effort when finishing 20^th in 17 mins 1 sec. Then we had the Moyne AC duo of Eileen McCullagh and Sharon Cantwell responding very well to the County supporters over the final lap and they responded with two strong performances, their marathon training, coming into good effect in such conditions when finishing 37^th (17.43) and 40^th (17.51) respectively. Then we had Ruby Carroll Clonmel AC also running very well in such conditions when finishing 55^th (18.16). As the points were tallied, the County team of Aoife, Laura, Eileen and Sharon won the National silver medals, a fantastic achievement and great credit to all involved.

The National Novice Men’s 6k race was the final event and at this stage conditions were demanding. Here we also saw some brilliant performances, none more so than Cian Hodgins Nenagh Olympic who ran a brilliant race when finishing 5^th in 21 mins 11 secs. Then we had great performances also from Luke Purcell Nenagh Olympic 13^th in 21.51, James Tanner Nenagh Olympic 16^th 22.01, Jamie Moloney Nenagh Olympic 21^st 22.12, Thomas McCarthy Thurles Crokes 31^st 22.40 and Ben Walshe Nenagh Olympic 32^nd 22.41, Tom Tracy Thurles Crokes Thurles Crokes 34^th 22.43, Darragh O’Leary Thurles Crokes 35^th 22.46, Caolan Curran Thurles Crokes 36^th 22.48 and Sean Hayes Nenagh Olympic 121^st 25.13. The County team also won silver medals in this event, a fantastic achievement with the combined efforts of Cian. Luke, James, Jamie, Thomas and Ben. At Inter Club level the Nenagh Olympic quartet of Cian Hodgins, Luke Purcell, James Tanner and Jamie Moloney won the silver medals, brilliant achievement by this talented young group of athletes. Thurles Crokes also performed very well when finishing 5th club, brilliant to see teams from the county performing so well at National level, long may it continue.