Anne Marie Boland Silver medal, Michelle Doherty Bronze medal performances

Clonmel Senior Athletic Club Notes 4th November

The Club was very well represented at the County Novice B Cross Country Championships which were held near Moyne last Sunday. In the women’s 3k race we had five athletes competing and it was great to see them all running very well. The race started and soon the Club colours were very prominent as the leaders came into view on the first lap with Ann Marie Boland 2^nd, Michelle Doherty 3^rd and Mercedes Conjero Martinez sharing 4^th place while both Marian Flaherty and Sareen Walsh were running well. Ann Marie and Michelle were full of running and they maintained their pace to win the Silver medal (13:02) and Bronze medal (13:12) respectively, great performances by both athletes. Then we had Mercedes also putting in a great effort over the final 1500m to move clear of the rest of the field and finish a very good 4^th in 13 mins 15 secs. We also had very good running from Sareen Walsh 13^th (14:22) and Marian Flaherty 14^th (14:25). The team of Anne Marie, Michelle and Mercedes combined very well to win the Gold medals and the Cup and, in the process, bridged a gap of eight years for our last win which was in Ballynonty in 2010. Our winning team then was Elaine O Brien (Horgan) who was 2^nd, Rosie Casey who was 3^rd and Sarah Whelan who was 5^th.

In the Men’s race we had eight athletes competing. Here Conor Ryan making his debut in this event, went with the early pace and was soon part of the group of five athletes at the front. He was still in the leading group of four going out on the 3^rd lap. Over the final three laps he had a right tussle for the minor placings with two experience athletes Liam Shanahan of Thurles Crokes and Eamon Morrissey of Dundrum and it was only in the final 200m that Conor was edged out of the Bronze medal, brilliant running and he will have learned a lot from this experience when finishing 4^th in 22 mins 24 secs. Then we had Dermot Logue running very well over the closing stages to finish 8^th in 23:06. Paudie O Keeffe also ran very well when finishing 12^th in 23:25 and these three athletes combined to win the Gold medals and the Cup. In the process they were bridging a gap of 13 years as we last won this title in Dundrum in 2005 with our team of Gerard O Loughlin 2^nd, Niall O Ceallaigh 3^rd and John Laste 5^th. Indeed, both Niall and John ran last Sunday with Niall finishing 27^th and John 34^th. We also had good running from Donal Ryan 29^th, Alan Carter 31^st and Donal Casey 36^th.

Munster Senior Cross-Country Championships

These Championships take place this coming Sunday at the Turnpike and we are hoping to have team competing in bot the Women’s 8K and Men’s 10K races.

News from America

Orlaith Moynihan got her Cross-Country season underway last weekend with a solid run as part of the conquering Iona College team at the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference 6K Championship race. Orlaith ran very well when finishing 23rd in 22 mins 40 secs. They now head for the NCAA Northeast Regional Meet on November 9^th.

Laura Tobin competed recently in the South Florida 5K Cross Country Invitational Meet when running well to finish 5^th in 19 mins 28 secs and helped the St Leo’s team to victory. St Leo’s are competing this weekend at the Southern State Conference Cross Country meet on November 3^rd.

News from America

Laura Tobin helps St Leo’s to Bronze medals

The 2018 Sunshine State Conference 6K Cross Country Championships took place last weekend. In a very competitive race where only 18 points separated the top 3 teams, Laura Tobin ran very well when finishing 9^th and 2nd scorer on the St Leo’s team in 22 mins 53 secs. They will now head with confidence to the NCAA regional Championships on November 17^th.