The National Cross-Country Championships took place in Abbotstown last Sunday, this is the venue for the European Cross-Country Championships in December 2020. Conditions were demanding as athletes had to contend with sticky underfoot conditions. In the Junior Men’s race Evan Fitzgerald making his debut at this level ran a brilliant race. He went out at a strong pace from the start and at hallway he was in the mid-twenties. Then over the final 2 laps he put in a brilliant effort which saw him move through the field, when finishing a brilliant 13th in 21 mins 1 secs, fantastic performance and 3rd Munster athlete to finish. Then in the Senior Women’s race Courtney McGuire, also making her debut in these Championships ran very well when finishing 64th in 35 mins 46 secs. The last race was the Senior Men’s 10K race, over 7 laps. Here early pace was set by a group of athletes that included the Club duo of Kevin Maunsell and Sean Tobin. Then midway through the race Sean was in the leading group with Kevin just off the leading group in 7th and well clear of the rest of the field. Then going out on the final lap Sean was in a battle for 3rd place and he maintained that strong pace to win the Bronze medal in 33 mins 5 secs. This was a brilliant effort by Sean who only resumed running a few months ago after a long layoff due to injury. Then we had Kevin Maunsell also running very well over the closing stages when finishing 7th in 33 mins 25 secs. We also had good performances from Jimmy Boland 132nd in 40 mins 58 secs, Paul Minogue 144th in 41 mins 46 secs and Anthony Bowen 159th in 44 mins 12 secs. The Club team were 9th overall in what was a very competitive competition. The County team were 5th overall with Sean, Kevin, Jimmy and Paul scoring on it.