Final day of county cross country at Adamstown with all Masters members (age 35+) out in force and we didn’t leave disappointed! 8 women and 14 men turned out to represent the club with pride.
Nicola Murphy finished a very impressive 3rd in a very competitive field, running a tactical race moving up the ranks from 6th to finish 3rd in 17 mins 13 (4km). Nicola finished next behind Fiona Kehoe & Jackie Carthy of Kilmore.
Catherine Ronan had a glorious day and claimed the O50 medal.
And to top it off, the womens team of Nicola Murphy, Beth O’Connor and Sonya Byrne claimed a tightly fought for 3rd team. This was a historic day for the women as its possibly 20+ years since we claimed a Masters cross country team medal.
The women packed well and that team was very well supported with Sandra Young, Alison Bennett, Catriona McLoughlin and Catherine Ronan following closely. Aine Cullen completed the womens brigade.
We had an equally impressive turnout in the mens 6km race.
Joe Lillis ran a superb race with the led pack, and fought bravely against the reigning champion Niall Sheil when they both pulled away from the pack in the final lap, with Joe finishing only 6 seconds behind Niall. Joe ran 6km in 21 mins 17. Huge support for Joe around the course today!
Brendan Lyng ran his heart out and finished 4th, claiming the O45 medal.
Alan O’Connor was just as impressive finishing 6th and claiming the O40 medal.
David Kehoe chased this group down and finished 13th, claiming the O50 medal.
And not to be outdone, Mick O’Callaghan won the O60 medal.
And it was another icing on the cake result as the mens team claimed gold!!! (Joe / Brendan / Alan / David).
But it can never be done without the backup of the rest of the mens team who also run in top gear for the club, namely George Delaney (14th), Colin Kearney (with the most impressive sprint result of the day!), Pat O’Callaghan, Liam Traynor, Thomas Moran, Matt Flannelly, Eddie Murphy, Emmett Malone, Mick O’Gorman and our wonderful coach John Kent (who ran 5 of the 6km with only 1 shoe!).
