Cork County Championships Evens and Novice
Date: 6/10/07
The 1st leg of the Cork County Cross-Country championships was held today in Carrignavar in ideal weather conditions. Togher athletes opened the Cross-Country season in style with team victories in all grades. Today it was the even ages & novice athletes in action and each and every member of the club did themselves proud. First into action were the Novice men over 6000m. Here Peter Fennell established himself at the head of affairs for the opening lap and ran very strongly to take 2nd place. He was ably assisted by Shane Coffey in 7th, Donal Coakley in 15th and Mark Dineen in 16th. The team took the gold medals and now looks forward to the Munster championships in 2 weeks time.
The boys u14 race provided Togher with its only individual win of the day with a superb piece of front running from Emmett Bracken. Emmett took the lead from the gun and ran superbly to take the gold medal in his first ever race at this level, no doubt a future star in the making. Behind Emmett the team was packing well with James Kelleher in 5th, Ian Tobin in 7th and Andrew O’ Keeffe in 8th, giving them the gold medals also. The u16 boys team dominated their race with 5 athletes in the first ten. Peter Hanrahan led the team home in 3rd place with an outstanding run. The scoring was complete by Brian Murray in 5th, Patrick Coleman 6th and Conor O’ Brien 7th. Here the ‘A’ team came 1st and the ‘B’ team came 2nd led by Shaun Healy, Cullen Lynch, Sean Barry and John Dorgan.
The last race of the day was the boys u18 race over 5000m. Here Mayo man Kevin Loftus was making his first appearance in a Togher singlet and what a performance it proved to be. Kevin was racing for the first time in two years having been out of competition due to illness. In 2004 Kevin finished 9th in the All-Ireland u15 cross-country championships and was a member of the Irish Schools Junior cross-country team. Kevin now hopes to put all his troubles behind him and get back to the top. Today’s race will have given him lots of encouragement finishing 2nd behind talented Leevale athlete Ryan Creech. Behind Kevin, Richard Quirke came through the field strong to finish 3rd and with Adam Kelleher 4th and David O’ Keeffe 5th, Togher easily won the team event. The ‘B’ team led by Matthew Murphy, Alan O’ Brien, James Fennell, Rob Long and Alex ‘Motivator’ Kelly were 2nd. All in all this was a fantastic opener to the season by all the athletes and we look forward to the 2nd leg next week in Youghal.
Photos From Carrignavar
The 1st leg of the Cork County Cross-Country championships was held today in Carrignavar in ideal weather conditions. Togher athletes opened the Cross-Country season in style with team victories in all grades. Today it was the even ages & novice athletes in action and each and every member of the club did themselves proud. First into action were the Novice men over 6000m. Here Peter Fennell established himself at the head of affairs for the opening lap and ran very strongly to take 2nd place. He was ably assisted by Shane Coffey in 7th, Donal Coakley in 15th and Mark Dineen in 16th. The team took the gold medals and now looks forward to the Munster championships in 2 weeks time.
The boys u14 race provided Togher with its only individual win of the day with a superb piece of front running from Emmett Bracken. Emmett took the lead from the gun and ran superbly to take the gold medal in his first ever race at this level, no doubt a future star in the making. Behind Emmett the team was packing well with James Kelleher in 5th, Ian Tobin in 7th and Andrew O’ Keeffe in 8th, giving them the gold medals also. The u16 boys team dominated their race with 5 athletes in the first ten. Peter Hanrahan led the team home in 3rd place with an outstanding run. The scoring was complete by Brian Murray in 5th, Patrick Coleman 6th and Conor O’ Brien 7th. Here the ‘A’ team came 1st and the ‘B’ team came 2nd led by Shaun Healy, Cullen Lynch, Sean Barry and John Dorgan.
The last race of the day was the boys u18 race over 5000m. Here Mayo man Kevin Loftus was making his first appearance in a Togher singlet and what a performance it proved to be. Kevin was racing for the first time in two years having been out of competition due to illness. In 2004 Kevin finished 9th in the All-Ireland u15 cross-country championships and was a member of the Irish Schools Junior cross-country team. Kevin now hopes to put all his troubles behind him and get back to the top. Today’s race will have given him lots of encouragement finishing 2nd behind talented Leevale athlete Ryan Creech. Behind Kevin, Richard Quirke came through the field strong to finish 3rd and with Adam Kelleher 4th and David O’ Keeffe 5th, Togher easily won the team event. The ‘B’ team led by Matthew Murphy, Alan O’ Brien, James Fennell, Rob Long and Alex ‘Motivator’ Kelly were 2nd. All in all this was a fantastic opener to the season by all the athletes and we look forward to the 2nd leg next week in Youghal.
Photos From Carrignavar
