Orlaith, Reece & Sean - County Champions
On Sunday last Clonmel Athletic Club travelled to The Turnpike outside Thurles for the 2nd day of the County Cross country championships. The day was once again kind with a slight mist clearing to nice autumnal sunshine.
In the first race of the day there were fine performances for Eva Fennessy finishing tenth followed by Chloe Conway making her debut and finishing a fine 37th.
The boys under 9 saw Eoin McCarthy first home for Clonmel in 22nd place followed by Evan Phelan in 31st and Simon Lowe in 36th.
The girls under 11 saw the duo of Anna Carey and newcomer Sarah Parker. Anna finished a fine 10th place making up ten places in the closing stages and Ciara Parker finished strongly in 22nd.
In the boys under 11 no fewer than ten Clonmel athletes competed with the foursome of Conor Murphy who finished very strongly in 5th followed by Colm McCarthy in 15th, Ryan McCullagh Cronin in 23rd and Conor O Brien 25th combing to win the bronze team event. Elliot Fennessy, Fergus English, Cian Dalton, Conor McGrath, Peter O Dowd and Mathew Dundon all performed brilliantly.
The girls under 13 saw Lorraine Doyle perform strongly finishing in 6th place.
The boys under 13 saw some great performances from Clonmel Athletes. Patrick Cleary was in defiant form finishing brilliantly in 4th place followed by Anthony Tobin in 18th closely followed by Liam Fahy in 22nd. Cillian English ran consistently to finish in 23rd place followed by Kieran Callahan who ran strongly to finish 35th.
In the girls Under 15 Clonmel were to the fore from the start with Orlaith Moynihan and Claire Horgan two of Clonmel’s finest athletes battling it out together for Gold and silver positions. Both athletes were neck and neck in a great battle to the finish with Orlaith Moynihan just shading it on the day for the Gold medal with Claire settling for a brilliant Silver. Roisin Cleary performed brilliantly to finish 4th followed home by Laura Tobin in 8th. This four combined to win the County Gold team Prize. Meadbh Moynihan ran a great race in 11th place.
In the Boys under 15 Clonmel were once again victorious with Reece Maher, now a seasoned campaigner showed a clean pair of heels to the race when finishing in first place clear of the field, brilliant running. Evan Lynch finished very strongly in 5th place.
In the girls under 17 Cliona Doyle put in a great performance following her big win the week before to finish in 2nd place and earn a well deserved silver medal. Maria Doverman ran strongly throughout to finish a fine 7th.
The race of the day followed in the boys under 17. The Clonmel pairing of Sean Tobin and Michael Carey took to the line. Sean Tobin was out of the traps like a prize winning greyhound gaining a 20mt gap from the start. The fine international Thurles runner Christy O Brien was soon to close this and the pair went at it nip and tuck for the entire 4000mts., The last play came in the final 150mts when the bold Sean Tobin went for the line leaving Christy reeling from the ongoing resistance. Sean ran home a gallant winner out of his age in a race that will live on in the memory of all Cross Country lovers. Michael Carey was not fazed by the pace and ran home a confident 4th place.
The final runner of the day was Brian Loorham who ran a tough 6000mt race in the Under 19 category to finish a fine 4th.
On Sunday next the even age Munster Cross Country event takes place in Dungarvan and the way the club is performing at present brace yourself for the results.