Munster Intermediate XC - Dec 2nd 2018. Silver for Mens team

The Munster Intermediate XC was held in the Cork County Boards Grounds in Riverstick on Sunday. Again we had full teams for both the mens and womens races. After winning the National Intermediate title back in February we were down one or two that would otherwise have been competing. In years gone by this would of meant no team for a number of years at this level. However, in what is a testament to the growing strength in depth at the moment we had a strong team of Shame Harrington, Tim Crowley, Jonathon Finn and Tim Mahony.

Inter Women:
The ladies 5000m race was on first and Eadaoin positioned herself well in the front pack in the top 10 from the start of the race. As the race progressed Eadaoin made some inroads on the wooded section at the bottom of the course and eased up to 8th position which she held onto with a valiant sprint finish up the hill.

Michelle who is going from strength to strength this season had another fine race. Making a very positive start she held her position throughout and finished up in a very commendable 16th. Eibhlin was third scorer on the team in 30th and Lavinia was in 35th. All in all this was good enough for 5th team. In fact it was a tie for 4th on 89 points with Moyne AC but they got 4th on countback.

Inter Men:
The mens race was fast and furious from the start until Paul Maloney took control after 4k and eased away from the field to claim a comfortable win. Shane was our first man home, matching Eadaoins position, in 8th. Shane had a strong race and attached himself to the back of the lead group from the start. The Market Green intervals seemed to payoff on the bottom mucky section. In the last lap as lads were getting dropped all over the place Shane held firm and came through impressively to move from 12th to 8th in the last 800m. Tim Crowley on his official debut for East Cork and his first competitive race in 14 month had a fine run in 17th. Tim battled with a few St Finbarr athletes throughout the race with none of them holding back. But again the strength built from his consistent Welchtown Hills paid dividends in the last half a lap where he made a decisive break and held on till the finish.

Jonathon Finn (one of only two East Cork athletes to beat Mick Clohessy this year) was next to count in 24th with fellow fireman Tim Mahony right behind him in 25th. This got us 2nd team overall behind Thurles Crokes and ahead of Dundrum. Also Shane and Tim counted on the silver winning Cork team. Well done all

Waterford Half Marathon:

In other races Graham Swords was out again in Waterford Half Marathon on Saturday running a very tidy 78.01 for 30h in his 4th race since the Dublin Marathon!!!


East Cork Novice:

The next cross country race is the East Cork Novice race in Watergrasshill next Sunday. This is low key but a good sharpening race for anyone coming back from injury or wants a stress free hit out. Entry is on the day.
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