North-East Runners AC finish the year on a high note

Runners from across the county met for the final date on the Louth cross country calendar for 2022- the Master’s Cross Country Championships at McCrystal’s Cross Country Course in Jenkinstown.

This is a challenging, undulating course, with sharp inclines and downhill turns, which benefited from the recent cold snap which made the running surface somewhat firmer.

Action first got underway as the ladies’ race took off, with winner Karen Costello (Dunleer) putting on a fine display of running ahead of Mary Leech (Drogheda & District) and Aine McBride (Dunleer) who matched each other stride for stride throughout the race.

Patricia Mulholland, the sole North-East Runners representative in the race, ran strongly over the hills to take gold in the Over 65 category.

Attention then turned to the men’s race, where a strong field was assembled to contest for individual titles as well as team prizes in the Over 35 and Over 50 categories.

Declan Toal (NER) led from the gun and came home a confident winner. Toal has been in fine form of late, having run a 15.13 5k in Dublin earlier this month – a mere 14 seconds shy of the national Over 50s record.  He was followed in by Shane Lynch from Glenmore AC, a strong runner over the country, who took the O40 individual title.

There was further interest for the North-East Runners in the chasing pack with Garry Mulligan and Liam Fergus battling against Rodney Thornton and Brian Martin of Drogheda & District – all contesting for the Over 40’s podium.

Thornton from Drogheda was looking fresh heading into the last lap and made a push to break away from the pack, with only Mulligan proving strong enough to give chase.

Giving the Drogheda man some 10 metres coming into the final 100m, it looked like NER’s Mulligan had left it too late, however he unleashed a characteristic kick to pass Thornton in the final yards to come home second.

With the overall winner of the day, Toal, stepping down an age category to aid his club mates, the scoring four on the NER Over 35 team was completed by Liam Fergus and Donal Hegarty, who took the O35 Louth Cross Country team title.

The Dundalk men also had a strong O50s team with competition within the club to be among the scoring three. The team was led home by Mark O’Connor, who finished 3rd.

Coach Jim Gonnelly made his way through the field over the course of the race to finish as the first man O55 – this is well deserved by Gonnelly who has demonstrated real resilience in returning from a string of injuries to take this title. Pat McElarney came home third for the O50 team and ensured that NER took home the team title.

Other runners on the day for NER included George Shields (3rd O55), a newly returned from injury Niall Gorham, Ronan Halpenny and Gareth McKevitt.

An honourable mention also goes to Donnchadh Hughes who followed up a fine 16th place finish in the National Novice Cross Country in Cork, with a 15.06 5k at the Newmarket 5k on Sunday. A sub-15 minute clocking beckons in 2023 for this developing talent.

This completes what was a remarkable year for the North-East Runners, a year which saw a clean sweep of the county’s cross country team titles on the men’s side comprising Novice, Intermediate, Senior, Masters, O35 and O50 titles.

This was complemented by strong running on the women’s side with individual titles for Kelly Breen in the Intermediate and Áine Cotter in the Senior County Cross Country races, leading home the NER ladies to team titles in both competitions.

This points to the positive developments in the club over the past number of years, with strong runners coming through the Novice category, adding to the quality in the Senior and Masters ranks.

If you are interested in improving/taking up running in the coming year, the Dundalk based club trains at 6.15pm every Tuesday night at St Helena’s Park. All abilities welcome.