St Abban’s AC runners feature strongly in Vicarstown

WHILE storm Éowyn battered the county on Friday, weather conditions had not improved much by Sunday when the Laois Novice Road Championships took place along the canal in Vicarstown.

Wind and rain welcomed a large crowd to Vicarstown making conditions difficult for athletes. The ladies race took place over 3km with the men doubling the distance for 6km.

Sarah Fleming led the St Abban’s charge when she finished in second place behind Della McLoughlin from the host club Oughaval. Karen Kavanagh was next for St Abban’s in fifth place and with Audrey Byrne, Etna Sourke and Amy Burtenshaw running strong races the ladies were in the running for team medals.

The team event was exceptionally close with only three points separating the teams. St Abban’s finished first with 34 points, Oughaval were just behind with 35 points and Portlaoise completed the podium on 37 points.

The Men’s race was much tighter at the front with a lead group of three developing early on. Dan McLoughlin, Tom Kenny and William Kerr didn’t seem too phased by the tough conditions bridging a gap from the rest of the field.

As they made the turn at 3km, Dan Mcloughlin appeared to build a gap on the other athletes. However, Tom timed his race to perfection coming home strongly to take victory by seven seconds. Dan finished in second with William completing the podium.

Once again, the team event was close, particularly for the top spot. When the scores were added the St Abban’s team of Tom, Patrick Dunne (4th), PJ Leonard (7th) and William Kelly (9th) finished with same number of points as Oughaval AC.

In the event of this taking place, it comes down to the fourth scorer on each team. Oughaval’s Paddy McLoughlin finished just ahead of William Kelly which saw Oughaval take team honours with St Abbans in second place. Ballyroan Abbeyleix and District completed the podium.

St Abbans had 13 athletes in action in the Men’s event. The second team finished just outside the medals in fourth place. The team of John Sourke (12th), Liam Byrne (15th), Thomas Fitzgerald (16th) and Neil Murtagh (20th) finished with 63 points. The third team of Francis Fleming, James Nolan, Cormac Fleming and Sean Sourke finished in seventh place overall.

Well done to all of the athletes in action on Sunday and to Oughaval AC who did a great job in very testing conditions.

The next event on the Laois Road Championships will take place on February 16th when the Laois Senior Road Championships will take place in Ballyroan.

South Leinster Schools The School’s Cross-Country calendar kicked into action on Thursday in Carlow Town Hurling club with plenty of the club’s athletes in action representing a variety of difficult local schools. Athletes who finish in the top 15 individually qualify automatically for Leinster’s as well as the top three teams.

A number of the club’s athletes qualified for Leinster’s on Wednesday 12 February. First up was Zoe Dunne in the Minor Girls who finished in third place. In the Junior Girl’s Laura Ayers finished in second, Chelsey Dooley was seventh and Katie Hartnett was 11th.

Will Duffy finished in seventh place in the Intermediate Boys with Kalem Buggy just behind in 13th place. Rahcel Ayers replicated her sister’s achievement in the Senior Girls when she finished in second place while her clubmate Aine Carter finished in 15th. Finn Craig also had a great race finishing in second place.

Well done to each of these athletes and we wish them all the best in their Leinster School’s in two weeks’ time.