It was a successful foray into the bowels of south Wexford last Sunday with the mighty men (and a couple of women) from Enniscorthy battling it out on the green fields of  Lingstown near Tomhaggard for medals in the County Masters Cross Country Championships.

The course consisted of a 1.5K lap on short grass with a few short gentle hills; 4 laps for the men and 2 for the women.

As the men set out from the start the vests of Slaney Olympic (both old and new) dominated. In the early stages Dave Barron, Jim Stafford and Ted Flannelly were mixing it in the top three positions with Padraig Moriarty and Farmer shoulder to shoulder in 5th and 6th positions. By the end of the first lap Ted had established a comfortable lead with Jim in second place and Dave a close third. Padraig , in 5th position, had pulled ahead of Farmer(6th). Mick Jordan was in 7th place and Ger Doyle 9th. There was mighty battle between these three as the race developed (photos in the Gallery tell the story).  Billy Reck, Mick Morrissey, Edward White, Ger Murphy, Lar Doyle and oldest man in the field, Terry O’Keefe were  running well and giving it their all.

At the end of the second lap it was Ted, Dave and Jim in that order. Unfortunately Padraig had to pull out of the race with hamstring problems. By the finish of lap three the top 3 positions were still the same but one got the feeling that there was going to be an almighty battle over the last lap. Behind Ger had overtaken Farmer with Mick running with intent close behind.

At the finish line it was the tactical Dave who took gold ahead of Ted in 2nd place. Jim finished 4th giving Slaney Olympic the team gold. Mick Jordan (6th), Ger Doyle (7th) and Farmer (8th) won team silver. Well done also to everyone else, many of whom won their age categories.

The ladies race was an altogether more genteel affair with only four runners, Catherine O’Connor (Menapians), Frances Barden (Kilmore) and, representing Slaney Olympic, Mag Dunphy and your nearly 60 year old scribe! Catherine and Fran set the pace and I managed to stay ahead of Mag for most of the first lap before she galloped off into the distance. From there on in it was Catherine, Fran, Mag and me. Well done Mag on your first cross country medals (3rd overall + category win).

This was my first cross country race in years. It really was quite fun. So lets see lots of you for the 2 mile winter league cross country race in Kavanagh’s next Sunday ,9th, at 9.30am.

Full Results below:

MEN

1. David Barron (Slaney Olympic) 21-29

2. Ted Flannelly (SO) 21-42

3. Ger Moloney (St Pauls) 21-49

4. Jim Stafford (SO) 21-51

5. Myles Gibbons (SBR) 21-53

6. Mick Jordan (SO) 22-37

7. Ger Doyle (SO) 22-40

8. Martin Monaghan (SO) 22-43

9. Richard Fortune (DMP) 23-38

10. Raymond Byrne (SBR) 24-13

11. David Leonard (SBR) 24-20

12. Paul McLoughlin (DMP) 24-37

13. Mick Morrissey (SO) 24-41

14. Billy Reck (SO) 24-59

15. Brendan Radford (DMP) 25-21

16. Edward White (SO) 25-47

17. Emmett Malone (United Striders) 26-35

18. Paul Foley (Kilmore AC) 27-30

19. Ger Murphy (SO) 28-14

20. Lar Doyle (SO) 31-53

21. Billy Harpur (SBR) 33-30

22. Terry O’ Keeffe (SO) 34-20

WOMEN

1. Catherine O’ Connor (Menapians) 14-20

2. Fran Barden (Kilmore AC) 15-11

3. Mag Dunphy (Slaney Olympic) 16-11

4. Jane Porter (Slaney Olympic) 16-27