Excitement mounts for Tipperary athletes as cross-country season starts this weekend

The County Cross Country Championships get underway this Sunday in Galbally, when the County Novice Women 4k and Men 6k Championships will be decided.

Athletes please note that the Ladies race will start at approximately 1.15pm and will be followed immediately by the Men’s race.

In order to compete in these championships, athletes must be registered with their clubs and they must be over 19 years of age by December 31 2022.

They must not have won a higher championship event in any county or have finished in the top three at County Senior Cross Country level.

As this is the first championship event, it will be hard to predict a winner, as many athletes at the moment are also preparing for the Dublin City Marathon for the first time in three years.

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However, we can expect clubs like Clonmel, Moyne, Dundrum, the host club Mooreabbey Milers, Thurles Crokes, Templemore and DBB to enter athletes for this event.

Likewise, these clubs will also be competing for the inter-club title, with three athletes to score on a team. The defending club champions in the women’s race are Moyne AC, with Dundrum AC winning the silver medals last year and Clonmel AC winning the bronze medals last year.

Likewise, in the Men’s 6k race, predicting a winner can also be hard but again clubs like Dundrum, Moyne, Moycarkey Coolcroo, Clonmel, Mooreabbey Milers, Templemore, Thurles Crokes, Carrick-on- Suir and DBB will support this championship event, where in the team event it is four athletes to score.

Here the defending club champions are Mooreabbey Milers AC, with Moycarkey Coolcroo AC winning the silver medals and Dundrum AC capturing the bronze medals last year in Newport.

So, like in previous years these championships have been well supported by the clubs in the county and these two races are always very competitive for both the individual medals as well as the inter club title; we can expect two competitive events to get this year’s County Cross Country season off to a flying start.