Pictured Left to Right: Barry Conway; Abass Edris; Jamie Kelly
Clare athletes did more than hold their own at the Athletics Ireland National Intermediate,
masters and juvenile B cross country championships on Sunday the 09 Feb. The race series
was held in Westport Co.Mayo at Westport House. The banner county proved to be the
dominant force on the field last Sunday with the podium frequently featuring both men and
women of all ages from county Clare.
In the men’s intermediate event, both the second and third place was taken by Barry
Conway and Jamie Kelly respectively, Both of Ennis Track AC. The two men from the town
were beaten only by Abass Edris of Castlegar AC, County Galway. Conway and Kelly both
received gold medals in the club team event and were joined by their clubmates Dylan
Casey and Padraig Nugent respectively. Ennis track scored 22 points beating Clonliffe
Harriers with 55 points and Castlegar AC with 56 points. As always in cross country, your
finishing place in the race is the amount of points awarded to you as an athlete, and the
team with the least amount of accumulated points is deemed the winner.
There were more medals for county Clare again from the veteran athletes in the men’s over
65s category. Kilmurry Ibrikane North Clare came second in the team category position with
35 points, putting them comfortably ahead of Ennis Track AC at 53 points in third place. The
Kilmurry Ibrickane North Clare team consisted of James Kenny, Tom Mackey, Michael
Harvey respectively. The ‘Townies’ consisted of Ger McCollough, Conor Flynn and
legendary athlete Sean Whelan. The two rival clubs worked together to win a second place
for the county team. The county team consisted of James Kenny, Tom Mackey, Ger
McCollough and Conor Flynn.
Pictured left to right: Tim Buckley; James Sexton; Tom Makey; James Kenny; Michael Harvey; Connor Flynn
In the women’s event, The focus was on the masters categories for Clare athletes. Kilmurry
Ibrikane’s Sharon Rynne secured her place on the podium with a second place finish.
Ms.Rynne, would go on to lead her county to a second place with 76 points. Also featured on
the team were Dee Grady, Becky Coughlan and Patricia O Brien respectively, and all of
Ennis Track AC. The Ennis track club team missed out on the podium with 122 points to
Galway City Harriers 105.
In the Over 50s Club category Ennis Track would take home Gold with Annemarie
Connellan, Geraldine Vahey, Aisling Power and Siobhan Lennon comprising the team with
198 to Derry City Spartans 227. This win secured yet another place on the podium with
Clare taking the top place in the over 50s county team category. The county team consisted
of Annemarie Connellean, Geraldine Vahey, Aisling power of Ennis Track and Michelle
O’Mahony of Kilmurry Ibrickane North Clare.
Picutred: The Ennis Track team and Club President Gerry Hayes
It’s not sure what’s being fed to athletes in County Clare but lets hope there is an abundance
of supply for the national indoor championship, being held in the Sport Ireland Campus on
the 22 February 2025.