Limerick racecourse was the venue last Sunday for the Munster Senior Cross-Country Championships. Conditions were very tough, possibly the most demanding course where the underfoot conditions were very soft and very mucky and no where to hide. In the Senior women’s race we had five athletes going to the start of the three-lap race. Here Kealey Tideswell was in the leading group of eight athletes right from the start. Then midway through this lap the leading group was down to four with Kealey still in contention. Despite the very demanding and energy sapping conditions, Kealey moved into 3rd place going out on the final lap. She maintained that strong effort to win the Munster Senior women Bronze medal with a very gutsy performance. This was a fantastic achievement by Kealey who has shown great improvement as the season has progressed. Then we had Sarah Whelan also running a brilliant race, indeed her best performance over the country to date as she came through strongly over the final mile to finish 15th. We also had brilliant efforts from Sareen Walsh, Moya Whelan and Michelle Doherty who finished 19th, 21st and 23rd respectively. This squad combined very well to win the Inter Club Bronze medals, a fantastic achievement as many of these athletes were running in these Championships for the very first time. Kealey and Sarah also helped the County team to win the Inter County Bronze medals.
The Men’s race was also very competitive in very trying conditions, where conditions deteriorated as the race progressed. Here Paul Minogue ran very well when finishing 15th and he was the 3rd scorer on the County team that won bronze medals. This performance by Paul was very good and great to see him improving as the season progresses. We also had very good efforts from David O Kelly, Michael McNamara and Niall O Ceallaigh who finished 35th, 39th and 40th. In the Team event Clonmel were 6th in a very close Inter Club event.
