Galway athletes excelled at the traditional curtain-raiser to the National Cross-Country season which took place at Abbottstown in Dublin on Sunday on a fast and relatively dry course.
Notable performances from Sean Cotter, Laura Shaughnessy and Thomas McStay produced top ten finishes their their respective field in what were exceptionally high-quality races.
McStay of GCH stormed home to a superb seventh place finish in the senior men’s race after running a calculated and composed race. He pushed on in the last two laps to challenge the leaders, and finished behind winner Darragh McIlhenny of Cork in the 7,500-metre race.
Next home was rising star William Fitzgerald of Craughwell AC in a fine 17th place, and there were other good runs from Patrick Noonan, Mathys Bocquet, Oisin Davis and Jack Miskella of Craughwell with Dave Bohan and Conor Byrne also running well for GCH, across the junior and Ssenior races.
In the Masters' section, Mark Davis of Craughwell will be eyeing an international berth as he placed fifth in the M50 category, simiilarly veteran Martin McEvilly of GCH.
In the women's race, Laura Shaughnessy of GCH ran a stormer to place second Irish athlete home and sixth overall in an international field, while clubmate Ellen Moran of GCH ran strongly for 18th place and Jane Ann Meehan, also of GCH, was the next Galway woman home. Fiona Everard of NUIG and Bandon AC impressed to finish tenth place overall.
Connacht Primary Schools Cross Country: The finals will be held Saturday in Moyne Community College, Moyne Co Longford, with four races on the card from 12 noon. Qualifiers from Galway are the top 15 individuals and top three teams in each race.
North East Galway 10k: Mick Fogarty of Ferbane AC winning out in a fast time of 32.15, ahead of Gary Scully of Nenagh Olympic in second and Rob Lennon of Castlegar AC in third. The first woman lady home was Kate Kelly of Athlone IT with a great time of 36.45.
Connacht Senior League: The first leg of the Connacht Cross Country League takes place on Saturday after the Primary Schools Finals finish in Moyne Community College in Longford.
