Broderick and Oprea take Carlow Novice titles

There was an excellent turnout with some closely contested events at the Uneven Age and Novice Carlow Cross Country Championships which were again held in fine conditions in Coppenagh House in Tullow on Sunday last.

In the first event of the day in the Men’s Novice 6km, all those present saw a hugely exciting race which was contested by a number of local athletes.

After the opening 1km lap, Tinrylands John Dillon and the seasoned campaigner Ken Archbold of SLOT broke clear of a chasing group which consisted of Paul Broderick and his SLOT teammates Alan Byrne and Rock Pender.

As the further laps were completed as far as the 5km mark, Dillon and Archbold looked to be the main contenders for the Gold Medal with a close to 80m gap over the rest of the field. However in the final 800m renowned former Carlow County Footballer Broderick made an outstanding comeback to overhaul the leaders to win his first County Senior Athletics title in a time of 24 minutes 50. Besides his multiple successes in different sports, Broderick has had fine performances at Masters Sprints competitions over the past two seasons.

In second position was his club mate Archbold in 25 mins 06, just 5 seconds ahead of Dillon who took the bronze medal. Also running well was Hacketstown native and SLOT clubman Alan Byrne in 4th position with the vastly experienced Rock Pender not too far behind in 5th place.

Also at the start of the days programme was a keenly contested Ladies Novice event over 4km on a testing course. In the end there was an outstanding display from Louise Oprea of SLOT who was a clear winner of her first County title in 18 mins 14, which was 90 seconds ahead of runner up Sarah Kenny and 3rd placed Kate Ashmore who both won their first Carlow Senior Individual medals. A close 4th was Chloe O'Toole who completed the winning SLOT team.

For the second Sunday, there was a packed programme for the underage events with some high quality races between the Under 9 and 17 age groups.

There were some fine performances by Catherine Cassidy of SLOT and Rian Murphy of Barrow Valley who both won their Under 9 events from large fields with Mathab Mohamed and Charlie Dillon of SLOT winning the Girls and Boys Under 11 sections respectively. Aaron Fownes was an impressive Gold medallist in the Boys Under 13 race to add to his Under 12 win a week previously with Ella Jordan of Barrow Valley coming out on top in the Girls Under 13 event. Lucy Malone of Ballon/Rathoe produced one of the most dominant performances of the day taking the Girls Under 15 title with Ronan Cossee first home in the Boys Under 15 race. The days proceedings were completed with an outstanding run by Erica O'Grady of the host club St. Patricks in the Girls Under 17 while special mention must also go to talented SLOT athletes Dylan Byrne and Arthur Hearns who competed as guests in the Under 19 section.

The underage races were preceded by a very competitive series of Under 7 Fun Runs over 400m.

Great credit is due to all the officials who ensured the events went ahead as scheduled on the day.

Special mention again goes to Joe Smithers, David Buckley and Barry Byrne who helped out with organisation for the second week in a row and to Damien Malone who once more proved to be a very capable and entertaining MC on the day.

Results:

Girls Under 9: 1st- Catherine Cassidy (SLOT), 2nd- Lily Sinnott (Ardattin), 3rd- Molly Walsh (SLOT), 4th- Evie Masterson (Ardattin), 5th- Millie O'Brien (SLOT), 6th- Kate Dormer (Barrow Valley). Team: 1st- SLOT 2nd- Ardattin 

Boys Under 9: 1st- Rian Murphy (Barrow Valley), 2nd- Cillian Nolan (Barrow Valley), 3rd- Sam Savage (Barrow Valley), 4th- Luke Brennan (Barrow Valley), 5th- Tommy Callaghan (Barrow Valley), 6th- Tadhg Brennan (Barrow Valley). Team: 1st- Barrow Valley 2nd- Ardattin 

Girls Under 11:1st- Mathab Mohamed (SLOT), 2nd- Sophie Brennan (Barrow Valley), 3rd- Maaab Mohamed (SLOT), 4th- Elizabeth Cassidy (SLOT), 5th- Kate O'Callaghan (Ardattin), 6th- Harriet Kehoe (Barrow Valley). Team- 1st Barrow Valley 2nd Ardattin 

Boys Under 11: 1st- Charlie Dillon (SLOT), 2nd- Luke Brennan (Barrow Valley), 3rd- Dan Leigh (SLOT), 4th- John O'Reilly (SLOT), 5th- Oisin Savage (Barrow Valley), 6th- Adnan Bouamba (SLOT). Team- 1st- SLOT 2nd- Ardattin 

Girls Under 13: 1st- Ella Jordan (Barrow Valley), 2nd- Emma O'Grady (St. Patricks), 3rd- Pippa O'Brien (SLOT), 4th- Jill Malone (Ballon/Rathoe), 5th- Bay Power (Ballon/Rathoe), 6th- Annabel Dillon (Barrow Valley) 

Boys Under 13: 1st- Aaron Fownes (SLOT), 2nd- Oscar Deering (SLOT), 3rd- Elliot McCarthy (SLOT), 4th- Cathal Leigh (SLOT), 5th- Odhran Byrne (SLOT), 6th- Conall Ferguson (SLOT). Team- SLOT 

Girls Under 15: 1st- Lucy Malone (Ballon/Rathoe), 2nd- Sarah Keogh (St. Patricks), 3rd- Treasa Dermody (Barrow Valley) Boys Under 15: 1st- Ronan Cossee (SLOT), 2nd- Cathal Bailey (Ballon/Rathoe)

Girls Under 17 1st- Erica O'Grady (St. Patricks), 2nd- Mikayla Hennessy (SLOT), 3rd- Tess Whitebread (SLOT), 4th- Molly Flynn (SLOT) 

Novice Women 4km: 1st- Louise Oprea (SLOT) 18.14, 2nd- Sarah Kenny (SLOT) 19.40, 3rd- Kate Ashmore (SLOT) 19.50.  Team: LOT (1, 2, 3, 4)- 10 pts 

Novice Men 6km: 1st-Paul Broderick (SLOT) 24.50, 2nd- Ken Archbold (SLOT) 25.06, 3rd- John Dillon (Tinryland) 25.11. Team- SLOT (1, 2, 4, 5)- 12 pts.