Sharon Cleere and Dermot Gorman capture Tipperary Intermediate titles

Ballyneale was the venue last Sunday for the County Intermediate Women’s and Men’s Road Championships. Conditions were very good and spectators witnessed two very competitive races. Great credit must go to the host club, Carrick-on-Suir, for ensuring everything was in place.

WOMEN’S RACE
In the women’s 4k the early pace was set by Sharon Cleere of Thurles Crokes, with Elaine Horgan of Clonmel and Catherine Fogarty of Dundrum in close attention. Then midway through the race Sharon increased the tempo that soon saw her open a good lead on the chasing pack. From here she made every stride a winning one to come home a very worthy and convincing champion in 14 mins 25 secs.

This was a brilliant performance by Sharon, as she adds this coveted title to the Novice title won last month in Moyne. The destination of the silver medal was decided inside the final 600m, with Elaine Horgan putting in a determined effort that saw her go clear and win the silver medal in 15 mins 46 secs.
Then we had Catherine Fogarty of Dundrum running on well to win the bronze medal in 16 mins 10 secs. Suzanne Shine of Clonmel was fourth in 16:11 with Sarah Whelan of Clonmel fifth in 16:25 and Marie O’Shea of Mooreabbey Milers was sixth in 16:52; great performances all round.

In the team event, with three to score, Clonmel retained the cup for another year with their scoring three of Elaine, Suzanne and Sarah on 11 points.

The silver medals were won by the Thurles Crokes team of Sharon Cleere, Laura Burke Carey 17:17 and Paula Mills 18:27 on 26 points.

The Dundrum team of Catherine Fogarty, Mairead Julian 17:34 and Emily Leahy 17:46 won the bronze team medals. Clonmel’s B team were fourth while the host club were fifth.
It was great to see the host club entering a team for these championships.

MEN’S RACE

The men’s 8k race also attracted a very competitive entry. Here the early pace was set by a group of three athletes, the Carrick-on-Suir duo of Dermot Gorman and Derek Walsh along with Eamon Morrissey of Dundrum.

Soon the strong pace set by this group had the field well spread out after 3k. At this stage Dermot had moved clear, with Eamon second and Derek third and some 60ms separating all three. There was still plenty to run for as they went through the village with one lap to go. The trio still kept the strong pace going and coming back into view with 600m to go, Dermot increased the tempo and held on to win this coveted title impressively in 26 mins 22 secs. This meant he completed the County Novice and Intermediate road titles double, a fantastic achievement.

Then we had Eamon Morrissey also running a brilliant race to win the silver medal in 26 mins 36 secs and holding off the challenge of Derek Walsh, who won the bronze medal in 26 mins 49 secs. It was great running by all three athletes.

Declan Ryan of Thurles Crokes was fourth in 28:37, Eugene O’Keeffe on home ground finished fifth in 29:19 and Louis Rice of Fethard was sixth in 29:27.

With three athletes in the top five, Carrick-on-Suir defended their title very impressively and with Keith Fraher finishing 10th in 30:06, they won the gold medals on 19 points.

The silver medals were won by the Dundrum team of Eamon, Garry O’Neill 30:15, Darren Allison 30:27 and Paudie Coen 31:17. The Mooreabbey Milers team of Willie O’Donoghue 29:35, Damian Holian 30:35, Brendan Houlihan 31:06 and Ger Hanley 31:15 won bronze. Thurles Crokes were fourth, Clonmel fift