Our ladies and men travelled to Galbally on Sunday to take part in the County Intermediate Road Championships and all performed very well in what proved to be two very tough competitions over a very undulating course with some very tough hills to negotiate especially in the men’s race.

Our ladies were out in strength again with 9 of them toing the start line of the 4k event.  Some 15 minutes later the first of the ladies crossed the line and our first athlete home in a time of 16.48 was Louise Fogarty who finished 7th overall.  Her sister Susan was hot on her heels in 8th place just 3 seconds behind in 16.51 with Brigid Gleeson and Lorraine Healy pushing hard for the finish to place 11th and 12th respectively in 17.08 and 17.12.  Next home was Aisling Maher who finished 25th in a time of 19.36 followed by Catherine Dunne 26th in 19.54 and Ber Spillane 27th in 19.57.  Breda McNamara and Liz Power finished the club’s participation crossing the line in 30th and 31st respectively and timed at 20.32 and 20.39.  On a score of 27pts the ladies finished third in the team competition just three points away from the silver medals.  Congratulations to them on their achievement in what was a very strong team competition with little or nothing separating the top four clubs.

The men’s race over 8k tested the mettle of each of the entries and with the club having three men competing they certainly earned all the plaudits having competed over a very tough hilly course.  Patrick Bowe and Paddy Doyle were within sight of each other throughout the race and in finishing 26th and 27th they were timed at 33.05 and 33.08 while Ray Power crossed the line in 39.16 to finish 39th overall.  Well done to the three lads for their excellent performances.

There is no rest for the seniors as next Sunday the County Masters Road Championships take place in Fethard with a 12 noon start.