Laois Cross Country County Championships Day 2 - Intermediate & Uneven Ages
Paul Cuddy and Richie Reid were our two male representatives in the Downey's Laois Athletics Day 2 Intermediate Cross Country. Paul is in excellent form lately and finished in a fine 5th position, with Richie solid as ever just two places behind in 7th. Well done lads. Maria and Anna our two ladies in action, 5th and 6th respectively.
We had great numbers for the Juvenile races. Grace Cuddy ran in u8 non-championship race and fished 8th.
U11 girls: A total of 35 runners lined out for this 1k race. Emma Jane Cuddy ran a brave race in second place for most of the 1k but found it hard to hold onto her position and finished in 4th place. Eva Howson was our second athlete running her second ever cross-country.
U11 boys. Like the girls, the boy’s number of 31 runners was a superb sight. Portlaoise had a complete team in this race and fished in first place with Daniel Downey running away with 1st place, Darragh Brady 3rd followed closely by Fionn Cuddy 4th and Daniel Murell 9th.
Girl’s u13: Great numbers again for this age category 22 in total 5 from Portlaoise. Caoimhe Cuddy ran a great race taking the lead early. While she had competition from behind, she pushed on and finished in 1st place.
Second team placing for our u13 girls as Caoimhe was followed by Leah Sullen, Tara Ring, Aoife Cuddy and Sarah Mullen.
Boy’s u13: Numbers were smaller for this race. We had a sole competitor with Cormac Howson running a strong race.
Girl’s u15: Well done to Grace Meade our only athlete in this race. A big step up to 3k for Grace who ran very well to finish 8th in a strong field.
Parkruns
Elsewhere we had representatives in two more Parkruns, Tom Lupton warming up for the upcoming Laois Senior by taking top spot in Vicarstown in an impressive 17.05, while Joe Breen can feel happy with his 5th place finish. Sinead Curtis and Niall Collins continued their pre marriage runs together by travelling to Kilkenny and taking in the local park run, good stuff all. Well done Ursula and Nuala in Mount Lucas parkrun
Rathcoole 5K
The last of our weekend results saw James Hamm travel up the M7 to the Rathcoole 5k. James took 1st place, 54 seconds better than his race the previous weekend. Another fine step for James on his comeback
Trip to Tipp 5K
Grace O Reilly on way to first overall in the "Trip toTipp" 10 k last weekend, continuing her brilliant form of late. Elsewhere Amanda McDonald was in action in the Cuainstar army run in the Phoenix Park on Wednesday, again putting in a fine performance. Well done ladies
Laois Hospice Run
This charity 5 k took place in the Heritage Hotel , Killenard on Sunday last and the Walsh family were our representatives, with Amy and her dad Joe putting in solid runs for this great local cause.
Fenagh 5k
James Hamm crossed the border into Carlow for the Fenagh 5k and took second spot overall. James has being out of race action for the past few months and used this race as a stepping stone on his return to top form in the coming months
Dublin Mountail Half Marathon
After a 5 year gap this event returned last Sunday, with Aengus Burke our only man in action. This year the start was at the Hellfire Club car park half way up the Dublin Mountains. After a 500 mtr start on a trail path reality soon hit home with a 2k climb to the Hellfire in itself. From there on it was tough going, with some testing climbs and rocky underfoot conditions to deal with, not a day to take in the superb scenery. After a solid climb Aengus struggled on the decent but managed to take 2nd spot in the 0/50 section. We had great numbers on Sunday 14 in total.
