North East Runners AC secure heroic Cross-County team double

A historic day awaited for the North East Runners club as they descended upon the Cross Country track in Newtownstalaban, Drogheda. The last few months training were all leading up to this year’s senior championship. All in anticipation to see who would be named the fastest club in Louth.

The Ladies race began at 11am, with a 6KM course facing them. The underfoot was reasonable and the North-East Runners (NER) Ladies were heading into the race as underdogs against reigning champions Dunleer AC.

From the whistle, Áine Cotter took the lead and set a blistering pace, with an opening kilometre in three and a half minutes. Last year’s winner, Karen Costello from Dunleer AC, went after her, trying to keep up with her fast pace.

Áine pushed the pace further and the gap continued to grow from the halfway point. Watching closely behind was Intermediate champion Kelly Breen, who seized the opportunity to move from 5th place through a gruelling 1km to overtake Costelloe with just over a lap to go.

This gave the NER team two podium positions. Áine cruised home in first place, taking the title of Senior Champion of Louth, a huge achievement for her. Following right behind her was Kelly Breen in second place, whose fantastic tactics and effort grabbed a podium spot.

Karen Costello finished in third place to complete the top three. All eyes were on the finishing places to see which team would be victorious. Laura Matthews battled hard and finished in 7th place, with Clíodhna Hyland crossing the line in 12th. Meanwhile, newlywed AnnMarie Mulholland was in 14th place.

All fingers were crossed waiting for the results at the finish line. In the end, it was announced that the NER Ladies scored the lowest with 22 points, beating Dunleer AC by only two points. A huge achievement by the ladies, who haven’t won the cup in eight years.

After this magnificent performance, the men’s team had a lot to live up to. Eleven black and white singlets lined up at the start line for the 10KM's on the cross-country loop.

Liam Mulligan from Drogheda & District took the lead, with NER’s Declan Toal in the chasing pack. However, Liam was never to be caught around the course and was the deserving Louth Senior Champion.

Declan had a hard-fought battle with Drogheda’s Robbie Keane, with the pair exchanging positions a number of times. He dug in to take third place on the podium after the gruelling five laps.

Next for NER was Novice Champion David Redmond, making great moves in the field to finish 5th, while newlywed Rory Mulholland, ended up catching his opponents to finish in 7th.

Again, it all mattered where each NER athlete finished to tot up the points. It looked out of reach as Drogheda had four men in the top six.

However, what can only be described as a train of black and white were charging into the finish with Garry Mulligan 9th, Keith Geoghan 10th, Peter McGuinness 11th, Oisin Hughes 12th, Paul Hyland 16th and Liam Fergus 17th all showing off their skills.

Completing the team for NER was Mark O’Connor in 26th and Jim Gonnelly in 31st. With six athletes to score, the team standings looked uncertain and Drogheda looked on nervously.

The drama unfolded as it was announced that both NER and Drogheda drew, with 45 points each. The winners were then determined by a countback to see which teams’ 6th man home finished first.

Peter McGuinness was grinning from ear to ear as he finished in 11th place ahead of Drogheda’s final team member Sean Toner in 18th place.

Huge excitement erupted as the Louth Senior Cross-Country Championship title was given to the North-East Runners, a title they haven’t seen since 2014. And so it was double success for NER, meaning the Cross-Country cups will reside in Dundalk until next year at the very least.