North East Runners win third Louth Senior Cross Country Championship

There was much anticipation leading into this year’s Louth Senior Cross Country Championships as to whether North East Runners A.C. men’s team could hold on to the title for the third consecutive year, with a strong challenge expected from Drogheda & District A.C.

The ladies' race was similarly eagerly awaited with the strongest field in a number of years at the front end. The ladies' 6km race was underway first, with extremely wet conditions to contend with on the 1500m Bellurgan Park loop.

A breakaway group of the pre-race favourites of Kelly Breen (NER A.C.), Neasa Reilly (Dunleer A.C.), Maedhbh Eakin (Dunleer A.C) and Niamh Brady of St. Peters A.C. quickly formed.

They were followed by Karen Costello and Nicola Welsh (Dunleer A.C.), and Caoimhe Lynch and Claire Smyth (NER A.C.).

The lead pack stayed together for the first two laps of the four-lap race until Neasa Reilly put in a surge to pull away from the others with Maedhbh Eakin fighting to maintain contact, while Kelly Breen and Niamh Brady contested for the bronze medal over the next two laps.

Reilly came home a comfortable winner over her Dunleer teammate Eakin in second, with Niamh Brady securing the third spot over Breen (4th) and Costello (6th).

Caoimhe Lynch had a fantastic last lap and finishing kick to edge ahead of Nicola Welsh - but it was not enough to deny the Dunleer ladies the team title with a confident team performance.

Claire Smyth and Rachel McArdle were the remaining scorers for the North East Runners ladies as they finished second overall, with Clíodhna Hyland, Anita Bolton and AnnMarie Mulholland the other runners for the Dundalk-based club on the day.

It was then on to the men’s race with another group of four making a breakaway in the opening lap - Christopher Keenan and Liam Mulligan (D&D A.C), Danny Nugent (Ace A.C.) and Declan Toal (NER A.C).

With Toal spotting over 30 years to his younger compatriots this was impressive, and gutsy, running. There was a close team battle in pursuit of this group as a mix of North East Runners A.C and Drogheda & District A.C vied for position over the next 5 laps.

Christopher Keenan proved to be the strongest runner on the day, coming home 20 seconds clear of Liam Mulligan in second.

A fast-finishing Declan Toal was denied the bronze medal by Ace’s Nugent, however there was consolation as his NER teammates Donnchadh MacAodha (5th), Rory Mulholland (6th), Peter McGuinness (10th), Liam Fergus (12th) and Oisin Hughes (13th) bunched together to secure the team title by a close margin of 5 points over Drogheda & District.

Other finishers for NER on the day were Keith Geoghegan (16th), Jim Gonnelly (22nd), Sean Carroll (24th), Richard Murphy(25th), and Seamus Falls (26th).

The depth in the North East Runners squad has been a defining feature of their running in recent years, and so it proved once more as they saw off a strong Drogheda team which included the first two finishers in the race.

If you’re interested in competing or simply improving your running, training with North East Runners A.C continues Tuesday evening meeting in St. Helena’s Park at 6:15 pm for beginners and 7:00 pm for advanced runners.