Unknown

28 November, 2009

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/62351605@N00/sets/72157601673138310/">Photos from Lindie Naughton</a>

Great weather and a tough course greeted the elite mountain runners as they came together to race each other for places on the Irish World Trophy teams and for inter-county titles. First finishers of the day were the junior women where Michelle Finn had a convincing win over Carol Huet. The junior men finished next with Eoin Rowan running a great race to win by almost one minute from newcomer Jason O'Byrne and Eoin Pierce who was recovering from tonsillitis. Kian Jennings clinched fourth just ahead of Michael Dowling and Colm Murray. Tony Kavanagh was running well on the first lap when a heavy fall ended his race.

Edel Mooney caused a stir by winning the women's race by over three minutes. Aisling Coppinger ran a strong race to finish second ahead of a tremendous performance by Aoife Joyce. Laura Flynn finished fourth ahead of Orla McEvoy. Dublin took the team title as non-finishers left Wexford and Wicklow without complete teams. Clonliffe took the club team. The large size of the women's field, and the standard of competition down throughout it, were noteworthy and augur well for future years.

Barry Minnock led the senior men through the first of three laps but by the end of lap two Eoin McKenna had raced clear and Barry Minnock and Owen Gahan were giving their all to keep in contact and not expose themselves to being caught by the chasing group. Robbie Bryson and Deon McNeilly took the next two places ahead of Martin Bradshaw who finished sixth despite the fall of the day. He was closely followed by Ciaran Fitzpatrick, Des Woods and Tom Blackburn and then by leading M50 Martin McDonald. Dublin again took the county title with Laois second and Kerry edging out Limerick and Down for third team. North Laois won the club race.

There were many helpers on the day who managed things very smoothly: Fidelma Ayres, Sarah Heal, Lindie Naughton, Mary O'Connell, Jackie O'Hagan, Geraldine O'Shea, Caroline Reid, Brendan Lawlor, Dermot Murphy, John O'Connell, Diarmuid O'Colmain and Sean O'Heigheartaigh. Also a special thanks to the NIMRA runners who travelled down and contributed significantly to the competitiveness of the race. As always there were some runners who had an off day or were carrying injuries, and missed out on selection: may they be back next year to put things right.

<b>Men County:</b>
19 Dublin (Barry Minnock 2, Robbie Bryson 4, Peter O'Farrell 13)
29 Laois (Ciaran Fitzpatrick 7, Martin McDonald 10, Derek Coogan 12)
32 Kerry (Eoin McKenna 1, John Lenihan 15, Sean Twomey 16)
33 Limerick (Martin Bradshaw 6, Tom Blackburn 9, Keith Ryan 18)
34 Down (Deon McNeilly 5, Des Woods 8, Gary Bailey 21)
77 Wicklow (Hugh Kinsella 22, Shane O'Rourke 23, Cormac O'Ceallaigh 32)

<b>Women County:</b>
12 Dublin (Aisling Coppinger 2, Laura Flynn 4, Joan Flanagan 6)

<b>Women Junior:</b>
1. Michelle Finn 18.47
2. Carol Huet 23.44

<b>Men Junior, Womens Senior, M60, M70 </b> - see short course results

<b>Men Club:</b>
29 North Laois (Ciaran Fitzpatrick 7, Martin McDonald 10, Derek Coogan 12)

<b>Women Club:</b>
21 Clonliffe (Aisling Coppinger 2, Maura NiChearbhaill 8, Clare Sullivan 11)
22 Crusaders (Aoife Joyce 3, Orla McEvoy 5, Niamh NiCholmain 14)