The Horse and Jockey Hotel was the venue for the County Tipperary Athletic Awards and it was great to see some of our Club members been honoured for what was a great year for the Club. Grainne O Connor got the night off to a flying start. She was the recipient of the Tom Healy Memorial Cup for the Best Female Juvenile under 13 performance for 2017 when she won the All Ireland Silver medal under 13 walk. Evan Lynch was honoured as the best Under 23 Male athlete in the County as he made a successful transition from Juvenile to Senior ranks a success as he won both the National Under 23 Walk and the National Universities Walks titles. Michael Carey was also honoured for his National University Steeplechase title. Kevin Maunsell was honoured for his many achievements during the year as the Best Senior Male athlete in the County. Sean Tobin was honoured for his fantastic year in 2017 as the recipient of the Best International performance of the year when finishing 15th at the European Senior Men’s Cross-Country Championship as well as his 12th place finish at the NCAA Cross Country Championships in America. These awards were accepted on behalf of the athletes by our Club Chairman, Conor Fleming and our Vice Chairman, Frank Lynch.
On the county front the Club was also very successful, at Juvenile level the Club was the best Juvenile Indoor Club and here Albert Doyle accepted the award on the Club’s behalf. At Senior level the Club was also presented with the Novice Men Road Cup, the Master Women’s over 45 Road Cup, the Master Men over 35 Cup and the Michael Cahill Cup for the Best Senior Club at the Road Championships for 2017 and these awards were accepted by our Chairman, Conor Fleming.
This Awards night also saw the presentation of two Cups honouring Mary Doyle, our Club stalwart who died during 2017 for all her work at County level where she was the County Juvenile Cross Country Secretary for many years and who as one official said, “brought sunshine into all the lives she touched and who will be sadly missed at all levels of the Sport”. These awards were presented by her daughter Lorraine to Cian Hodgins of Nenagh Olympic for his Cross-Country achievements in 2017 and by her son, Jonathan to Kate Ferncombe of Dundrum Ac for her Cross-Country achievements in 2017.