Edel Roche and Cathal de Faoite win cross country titles in Tipperary

Middlepiece was the venue for the County Novice B Cross Country Championships.

To qualify for this event, an athlete must have competed in the County Novice last month. It was great to see very good entries for both races and it augurs well for promoting this kind of competition.

The women’s race over 3k saw Edel Roche of Fethard AC go to the front of affairs from the start, as she was determined to do the Novice B Double. Earlier this year she was a very convincing winner of the Novice B Road title in Fethard.

Edel set a strong pace that soon saw her go into a good lead and despite a late charge by Mary Keane of Dundrum AC, she made every stride a winning one to come home a very worthy and convincing winner in 11 mins 50 secs.

Then we had Mary Keane also running very well when winning the silver medal in 12 mins 4 secs.

Then we had a right tussle for the bronze medal with Paula Hendriksen (12.25) of Fethard AC edging out Lisa Quinlan (12.28) of Moyne AC close to the finishing line.

Emily Leahy of Dundrum (13.01) was fifth with Lyndsey Ryan of Thurles Crokes sixth (13.08).

In the team event, with three to score, both Fethard AC and Dundrum AC had two athletes in the top five.

On the final lap Carol Molloy of Fethard AC emerged out of the dip to the delight of her followers and she kept the pace going to finish eighth (13.20) and help Fethard AC win the cup, the first in their history in Athletics Ireland. So well done to all involved.

The silver medals were won by the Dundrum team of Mary, Emily and Mairead Julian, 12th (13.34). The Thures Crokes team of Lyndsey, Deniece Touhy ninth (13.21) and Joan Stakelum 15th (14.09) won the bronze medals.

The Men’s 6k race over three laps saw the leading group of four athletes set a strong pace and they were Dylan McLaughlin of Moyne AC, Denis McCullagh of Thurles Crokes, Mark Corcoran of Nenagh Olympic and the eventual winner Cathal de Faoite of Clonmel AC.

This group were still together going out on the final lap and here the pace intensified.

Inside the final 400 metres it was down to Mark and Cathal. Then over the final 200 metres Cathal went for broke and held off a determined challenge by Mark to win the gold medal in 20.41, with Mark winning the silver in 20.43 and the long-time leader, Dylan McLaughlin winning the bronze in 20.53, great running by all three athletes.

Denis McCullough of Thurles Crokes was fourth (21.27), Eugene O’Keeffe of Carrick-on-Suir was fifth (21.39) and Kevin Patrick Lenihan of Mooreabbey Milers was sixth (21.46).

The club gold medals were won by the Mooreabbey Milers team of Kevin, Patrick Ahern 10th (22.29) and Liam Lewis 13th (23.16), retaining the cup for another year.

The silver medals were won by the Thurles Crokes team of Denis, Ger O’Toole ninth (22.18) and Peter Maher 14th (23.25).
Fethard won the bronze medals with their team of James Maher seventh (21.53), Fintan Rice 11th (22.41) and Jack Spillane 16th (23.33).

At the presentation of the Awards, County Chairman, Owen Fanning, thanked Moycarkey Coolcroo for providing a great course for these championships and he also thanked all the clubs for supporting the championships.

READ NEXT: Sharlene Mawdsley announces major change in her career