Historic Day for Moyne AC – County Junior and Senior Champions!
This years County Junior and Senior Road Championships got underway at Templemore. The club were delighted with the representation, and it looked to be a good day on the horizon with the hope of some positive results coming our way if all went to plan. That it did, as we had the perfect start in the Junior men’s race. Our trio of Aaron Moore, Adam Phelan and Michael O’ Mahony continued their recent flying form over the country and transferred it on the road. They had to negotiate the stiff 3k course starting out beyond the cross of Cloone and made their way back towards town. With the headwind, railway bridge and the long drag home to contend with Michael and Aaron battled and pushed each other all the way to come in first and second. Super running and credit to Michael on his first individual title! The two boys were backed up with the support of Adam who again ran really well to finish 5th overall. The team were victorious in the junior event, coming away with gold. Congratulations to them and well done to their coach Paddy Doyle who is putting in great efforts with their training.
Shortly after the junior race concluded the senior ladies were on the start line near the Garda College. Here the club had cousins Louise and Angela Fogarty backed up by Sharon Cantwell, Aisling Maher and Lisa Quinlan. They were looking to follow up on the junior’s success. It was a small but competitive field with strong opposition of teams that included Dundrum, Clonmel and Thurles Crokes. From the outset Louise and Sharon worked together and followed the two Crokes athletes in the early stages. As the race developed Louise pushed on with Sharon and Crokes athlete Eileen McCullagh battling throughout the race. Angela was in pursuit and racing very well with Aisling following not far behind. Unfortunately, it wasn’t Lisa’s day as she felt unwell during the race and was forced to pull out at halfway. With the support of John Flynn on course tallying the points at 3k it was very tight on points with Dundrum, but to their credit the girls put in a brilliant last 2k effort picking up places. Louise led the charge home in a fantastic 3rd place (18.47) a PB and a follow up on her excellent 2nd place in the County Novice recently. Well done Louise! Sharon, kicked for home to ensure she followed Louise in 4th place (19.16) up the run in. To the girls and mentors delighted Angela put in a huge shift to cross the line in 7th place (20.00) being 3rd scorer and solidified the win! Aisling Maher finished in 16th place (22.24) and happy with her recent progress following setbacks. Great job Aisling! Since the formation of Athletics Ireland, the club have never one a County Senior Team Title – until today! A fantastic achievement for the club and all involved. We will cherish this one and hope it’s a sign of more to come.
Stephen Flanagan was our soul representative in the men’s 10k race but this did not deter from Stephen’s race strategy as he set off steady in the early stages. Stephen settled in very well and worked his way though the field. The men had to run x2 circuits of and as Stephen set out on the second lap he looked full of running picking up the pace. As he headed towards the finish line it was clear that he was going to finish in the top ten. A brilliant result! Stephen rallied up the hill and clocked 36.59 to his delight! Congratulations Stephen.
Next Sunday 2nd of April is the County B Road Championships. We have a number of athlete’s eligible to compete in Fethard. The very best of luck to them. Then on Sunday the 7th of May is the next county road race with the County Masters to be hosted by Templemore AC. We hope to have teams for this event. Please let Ber know if you are interested in running.
