County Athletic News

Gold for Danny Smith and Madeline Loughnane

The County 10 Mile road championships took place in Clonmel in very warm conditions. Right from the start the Thurles Crokes duo of Christopher Bracken and Shane Mullaney were joined by Danny Smith of Ballynonty. Over the first 2 miles this trio set the pace and then as they approached Barne, Danny Smith went into the lead and he opened a slight lead at three miles which he reached in 17 misn 50 secs with Shane 2 seconds adrift. On the downward run to the 4 mile mark Danny piled on the pressure, reaching 4 miles in 23 mins 23 secs with Shane 5 seconds adrift. Danny continued this strong tempo reaching 7 miles in 40 mins 9 secs with Shane now 32 seconds adrift and Christopher still in Bronze medal position. On the homeward run along the Wood road Danny kept the pace going despite the very warm conditions to win a great race in 57 mins 13 secs. This was a great performance by Danny who has been 2nd in this race for the past two years. Then we had Shane Mullaney running very well over the final three miles to finish 2nd in 57 mins 23 secs with Christopher Bracken winning the Bronze medal in 59 mins 11 secs. For the record John Shanahan of Dundrum was 4th in 59 mins 42 secs. 5th David Kenneally of Thurles Crokes in 60 mins 49 secs, 6th James Ryan of Dundrum 61 misn 12 secs, 7th Tony Fogarty of Thurles Crokes in 61 mins 24 secs, 8th Donal Keane of Dundrum 61 mins 30 secs, 9th Dermot Logue of Coolquill 62 mins  44 secs, 10th Ruaidhri Devitt of Dundrum 63 mins 2 secs. For the record, the course record for this race, under AAI rules, is held by Richard O Brien of Clonmel who ran 53 mins 59 secs in 2000.

In the team event Thurles Crokes were very convincing winners with their four athletes (2nd, 3rd, 5th and 7th) in the top 7 and they won the title on 17 points. The Dundrum team (4th, 6th, 8th and 10th) won the Silver medals on 28 points. The Carrick on Suir team (Tommy Falconer 13th 65 mins 11 secs, Anthony Grace 15th 65 mins 43 secs, Eddie Wells 17th 67 mins 4 secs and James Fox 18th 68 mins 57 secs) won the Bronze medals. The Ballynonty team of Danny, Neillie Hall 20th 69 mins 31 secs, Jimmy Butler 70 mins 18 secs, Noel O Dwyer  28th 72 mins 26 secs were 4th, the Clonmel team of Larry Martin 12th 64 mins 51 secs, Tommy Cahill 16th 66 mins 23 secs, Tom Quinn 34th 75 mins 34 secs and Ned O Brien 35th in 76 mins 12 secs were 5th while the Coolquill team of Dermot Logue 10th, Tadhg Vaughan 24th 70 mins 11 secs, Leslie Smyth 27th 71 mins 57 secs and David Quigley 40th in 85 mins 14 secs were 6th. The Dundrum 2nd team of Gerry Ralph 19th 69 mins 5 secs, P J Holmes 21st 69 mins 43 secs and Michael Ryan 23rd 70 mins won the Gold medals in the B Section.

In the Ladies race we also had some great racing. Madeline Loughnane of Thurles Crokes showed that her good form over the longer distances is gaining momentum as she once again ran very well to win this title in 63 mins 29 secs, great racing and I have no doubt on this form will run well in the upcoming half marathons. Looking back over the record of results since the Athletic Association was formed in 2000, this performance by Madeline establishes a new course and distance record for the Ladies beating the previous record of 67 mins 13 secs set by Pamela Lynch of Clonmel in 2006. Then we had Angela McCann of Clonmel running a great race to win the Silver medal in 65 mins 33 secs. Also beating the old course record,  with Laura Taylor of Clonmel making a very welcome return to racing a winning one when capturing the Bronze medal in 71 mins 35 secs, great running. For the record Aine Roche of Clonmel was 4th in 72 mins 59 secs, Denise Compton of Dundrum was 5th in 73 mins 20 secs with Mary Molloy of Carrick on Suir was 6th in 73 mins 45 secs, great running. In the team event the Clonmel trio of Angela, Laura and Aine captured the Gold medals while their team mates, Donna Nagle 81 mins 42 secs, , Miriam O Gorman 84 misn 6 secs  and Elaine O Brien 86 mins 13 secs captured the Bronze medals.

The County Board would like to thank Clonmel for hosting these Championships and well done to the Ladies Committees under Theresa Nagle for the after race refreshments, much appreciated by athletes and officials. Well done to all the stewards throughout the course for the great work. The County Board would also like to thank the South Tipperary GAA Board for the use of their fine facilities on the Western Road.

 

County Master and Junior Road Championships

These Championships brings the curtain down on what has been a very =successful road season in Ballynonty this Saturday night. The first race for the Juniors over 3k will start at 7 pm with the Masters race over 6k going off at 7.20pm. Junior eligibility is over 16 and under 20. Athletes travelling to Ballynonty via Killenaule will have to make a detour due to the collapse of the Bridge at Ballynonty, so start out early and allow plenty of time.