Tipp Athletes impress as Novice Cross Country

The National Novice Cross Country Championships took place in Abbottstown, Dublin last Sunday where conditions were soft and heavy in parts.

Still, this didn’t deter the athletes as there were some brilliant performances from county athletes on the day.

Women

The women’s 4k race attracted a very good entry with the underfoot conditions demanding after the juvenile programme of events.

Right from the start the pace was strong and every position was hard fought for. Aoife Delargy, Nenagh Olympic, was well positioned throughout the race and ran a brilliant race when finishing 12th in 16 mins 42 secs.

Laura Cooney, Clonmel AC, also putting in a determined effort when finishing 20th. Then we had the Moyne AC duo of Eileen McCullough & Sharon Cantwell responding very well to the county supporters over the final lap and they responded with two strong performances, their marathon training, coming into good effect in such conditions when finishing 37th & 40th respectively. Ruby Carroll, Clonmel AC, also running very well in such conditions when finishing 55th.

As the points were tallied, the Tipperary team of Aoife, Laura, Elieen & Sharon won the National silver medals, a fantastic achievement and great credit to all involved.

MEN

The National Novice Men’s 6k race was the final event and at this stage conditions were demanding. Here we also saw some brilliant performances, none more so than Cian Hodgins, Nenagh Olympic, who ran a brilliant race when finishing fifth in 21 mins 11 secs.

There were also great performances from Luke Purcell, Nenagh Olympic 13th, James Tanner, Nenagh Olympic 16th, Jamie Moloney, Nenagh Olympic 21st, Thomas McCarthy, Thurles Crokes 31st, Ben Walshe, Nenagh Olympic 32nd, Tom Treacy, Thurles Crokes Thurles Crokes 34th, Darragh O’Leary, Thurles Crokes 35th, Caolan Curran, Thurles Crokes 36th, and Sean Hayes, Nenagh Olympic 121st.

The Tipperary team also won silver medals in this event, a fantastic achievement with the combined efforts of Cian. Luke, James, Jamie, Thomas & Ben.

At Inter-Club level the Nenagh Olympic quartet of Cian Hodgins, Luke Purcell, James Tanner & Jamie Moloney won the silver medals, brilliant achievement by this talented young group of athletes. Thurles Crokes also performed very well when finishing fifth club, brilliant to see teams from the county performing so well at National level, long may it continue.

Juvenile

In the Girls U11 race, Poppy Shanahan, Moyne AC, was the first Tipperary athlete home in a very impressive 21st position. Poppy was part of the Munster team that claimed a bronze medal in the inter-provincial competition.

She was closely followed by county teammate and Nenagh Olympic AC athlete Emily Quinn in 24th place. The county team finished in seventh place overall. The scorers were Poppy Shanahan, Emily Quinn, Quinn Corbett, Moyne AC 24th, Laoise Prior, Dualla Ballytarsna Boherlahan AC 64th; Freya Schwanke, Newport AC 70th, and Clara O’Donnell, Clonmel AC 101st.

Moyne AC also had a club team competing and they finished in ninth place. Members were Poppy Shanahan, Quinn Corbett, Aoibheann Doyle 105th & Kate O’Dwyer 112th.

In the Girls U13 race, Grace Butler, Dundrum AC, was Tipperary’s sole representative finishing in 64th place. Michael Hynes, Nenagh Olympic AC, put in a brilliant performance to finish in 16th place overall.

This earned him a spot on the Munster team who claimed the silver medal in the inter-provincial competition.

Michael also led the Tipperary team home to an eighth place finish. Scoring members were Michael Hynes, Philip Croke Dundrum AC 44th, Matthew Esmonde Moyne AC 68th, Eoghan Slevin Templemore AC 72nd, Luke Kavanagh Templemore AC 73rd, and Liam Egan Fethard AC 79th.

Caoimhe Slevin of Moyne AC flew the Tipperary flag in the Girls U15 race as she finished in 69th position.

Following a tenth place finish at the Munster Championships, Luke Duggan, Templemore AC put in a stellar performance to finish in 23rd overall in the Boys U15 race.

Alana Spillane, Moyne AC ran a brilliant race to cross the line in 19th position in the Girls U19 race. This earned her a spot on the Munster team that claimed bronze in the inter-club competition.

Tipperary had great success in the final race of the day through Nenagh Olympic AC. Diarmuid Moloney navigated his way around a difficult course to finish in third place overall while Kevin Finn also made the top 12 as he finished in seventh place.

Both boys came away with national individual medals for their efforts.