National XC, Dunboyne Dec 15th, 2019

The National Novice XC was held in Cow Park, Dunboyne, Co Meath on Sunday. We had 10 athletes competing and had two full mens and womens teams. While it was cold and mucky, the sun did shine on the bumper fields, there were 216 finishers in the mens 6000m race and 134 in the womens 4000m race.

Shane lead the men home with a storming second half of the race to pip the current East Cork Novice champion Donal by 1 second and 1 place! Donal in his first National XC was pleased with his performance and enjoyed the mucky conditions. Next home with a good run was Jonathon and Tim just behind. This got the lads 18th team out of 26. 

Michelle improved 53 places from her 93rd in Navan in 2018 to finish a very credible 40th in the womens race. In a fast and furious 4000m Michelle positioned herself well in the opening 1000m lap and held her position before unleashing a great sprint to pass a few rivals in the last 150 meters. Eadaoin held off a large chasing group in the last lap to finish in 68th position and to be second East Cork scorer. Caitriona must of had ice in her veins as she produced a devastating clinical finishing kick, moving from outside the top 100 to 96th in the closing stretch. Norah finished off her first Senior year with East Cork with another good run, finishing 106th just ahead of another fast finishing Santry, Lorna, in 110th. Eibhlin, despite being in crutches during the week, bravely battled for the entire race and was rewarded with another National Novice XC race to her credit. The girls were 16th out of 20 teams.


Cloyne Commons 4k:

Club Captain Kevin had a spring in his step on Sunday morning, taking out the 2nd Cloyne Commons 4k of the series with a swift 12.42. This secures him the fast 4k of the year on Cork soil. Chris Kelly, just back from a few weeks out sick, was 5ht overall in 13.44. Martin Hennessy and Conor Tierney had a close battle finishing 30th and 31st with only seconds separating them. Denis ran 17.17 then for 62nd overall.
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