The County Road season got underway last Sunday in Moyne with the County Novice races down for decision. The conditions were very demanding with athletes having to contend with elements of storm Franklin like strong headwinds, rain and hailstones as well as plenty of surface flooding on the roads. Still, this did not deter our members as all of them put in brilliant efforts in such trying conditions. In the women’s race we had ten athletes competing. Right from the start of the 3k race Maire Claire McCarthy went to the front and set a strong tempo as she was determined to go two better than her bronze medal winning performance in last year’s event. This determination saw her opened a good lead inside the 1st km. She maintained that strong effort over the rest of the race and was well clear as she entered the track with 300m to go. She came home a very worthy Champion when finishing in 11 mins 5 secs, fantastic effort in such conditions. Then we had a right tussle for the silver medal with Elaine Horgan holding off some late challengers over the closing stages to finish 2ndin 11 mins 47 secs, brilliant effort. Then we had Suzanne Shine also running a brilliant race when finishing 5thin 11 mins 55 secs. These three athletes combined very well to win the gold medals and retain the Cup for another twelve months, thus achieving a four in a row, last achieved by the Club in 2006 to 2009 era, brilliant. We also had good performances from Aisling English 7th (12:37), Brid Hearne 11th (13:08), Jennifer Quinlan 12th (13:11), Sareen Walsh 13th (13:14), Michelle Doherty 14th (13:19), Marina Quinlan 16th (13:40) and Annmarie Looby 18th (14:03).
The men’s race also saw the Club very well represented with fourteen athletes competing. Here again athletes had to contend with demanding conditions, and it is great to report that they all ran well. Dermot Logue, making a welcome return to races, ran very well when finishing 8th in 21 mins 28 secs. Then we had Cormac Healy closely following him across the finishing line in 11th place (21:43). Then we had Brendan Walshe also running well when finishing 20th (22:56) followed by Barry Horgan in 27th (23:32). These four athletes combined to score 66 points, just one point away from the bronze medals, brilliant efforts. We also had good performances from Michael Moloney 33rd (23:55), Mark Kehir 41st (24:29), Pat Coffey 43rd (24:33), Michael McNamara 45th (24:39), Sean O Dea 52nd (25:00), Vincent McHugh 56th (25:14), Kenny Brett 58th (25:41), David Lorigan 59th (25:50), Niall Brannigan 61st (26:09) and debutant Eddie Meegan 70th (28:21).
