Once again, Moyne AC hosted a successful Novice Road Championship this Sunday. This event is always hotly contended and this year was no different. There was a slight change of course this year, which saw the athletes finish the final 300m on the track; the track allowing for swift and competitive finishes.
The club had 15 competitors in total, a ladies team of 8 and 7 men. A strong performance from our ladies team saw the gold team medal come to the club for the third year running, the first time that this was every accomplished by the club!
The 3k ladies race saw two superb athletes, Ciara Cummins (Nenagh Olympic) and Jacqueline Hughes (Thurles Crokes), battle hard from the start. Both women ran strong with Ciara edging Jacqueline to take the Novice Road Championship title in a blistering time of 10:59. Not far behind them there was a battle for bronze where Nuala Fitzgibbon saw off our own Angela Fogarty over the last 100m to take the medal. Louise Fogarty followed Angela home with a storming performance to finish 5th. Orla Healy was our next competitor to finish with a close finish on the line for 10th position. She was followed by Sarah Healy in 17th, Sharon Kiely in 25th, Sharon Cantwell in 27th, Ber Spillane in 30th and Liz Power in 33rd.In the exciting team event, Angela, Louise and Orla claimed gold with a score of 19 points, an event with only 4 points separating the three medalling teams (Clonmel AC 21 points, Thurles Crokes 23 points). Our Ladies ‘B’ team finished in 8th position.
The men’s event was just as exciting tackling the 6k course. Jimmy Boland (Clonmel AC.) was the winner of the event in a time of 19:29. Jimmy was followed home by Gareth McGlinchy and Dermot Hayes (both Dundrum AC). Liam Kelly, the first of our Moyne men, had a great run to finish in 6th position and was followed home by Stephen Flanagan who finished in 12th. Brian Carroll was the next to finish in 25th followed by Louis Everard, Jodie Leahy, Patrick Bowe and Ray Power who were 42nd, 46th, 47th and 65th respectively. In the men’s team event, Moyne were 5th with a score of 85 points. Well done to everyone who competed.
A special credit must be given to all those that contributed to the smooth running of the event, thanks to all those who helped and came out to support on the day.
Many of the aforementioned athletes will now be eligible to run the County Novice ‘B’ road race, which takes place in Ballingarry. This event is confined to athletes who completed the “A” championships with the first eight men and the first five ladies in those championships excluded as well as previous individual winners. The distance remains the same as the Novice at 3k for ladies and 6k for the men.
