Cross Country
There was double national medal success for County Longford on Saturday last at the Community Games Mixed Distance Relays in Navan. The boys Under-12 team of John Fitzpatrick, Setanta Smith, Timothy Sheridan and El’Nathan Okoh combined excellently to win brilliant gold with their superb efforts.
Longford’s Under-12 girls quartet of Sophia Carey, Leah Waters, Sarah Connolly and Alisha Manning also made the podium with claiming bronze medals. Congratulations to all.
The Under-14 girls and boys teams ran well for fifth place finishes.
Sophia and Alisha weren’t finished with their weekend’s cross-country action as on Sunday, in far tougher conditions, both took podium spots in the Under-13 2500m at the Westmeath Open in Belvedere with Sophia first and Alisha third.
Sarah Taitt and Abbie Mulligan also placed well in the race. Jessica Neary was second in the Under-11 1500m with Zoe Mulligan and Julie Taitt top-10. Adam Mulleady ran strongly for fifth in the Under-11 boys race while Katie Smyth was fourth in the Under-9 girls 500m. Rachel Keenan showed her strength with third place in the Under-15 3500m.
Tarmonbarry Road Races
The 39th annual Tarmonbarry road races again attracted big numbers on Sunday. The 8km saw good performances by Sinead Nolan (2nd lady), Barry Hall, Edel Nolan, Seamus Murtagh, Sandra Donaldson and Marian Dennigan. Charlie Barone clocked another good run in the half marathon. The 3/4 marathon distance saw a large entry with many getting in their final long runs before the Dublin Marathon in 3 weeks. Barry Sheil (2nd), Paddy Sharkey (3rd) and Colin Beades were all well inside the top 10, Anne Brady and Michael O’Hara both placed first in their age categories while there were strong runs over the 19.7 miles distance also by Stephen McDermott, and Little Athletics coaches Philip Bannister and Maureen Finn.
