Harriers claim Leinster gold

The Tullamore Harriers ladies team, led brilliantly by Pauline Curley, wrote another chapter in what is turning out to be a fantastic season by winning the club title in the Leinster Senior Cross Country championships in Tymon Park, Dublin last Sunday. The Harriers women have dominated the Leinster Cross Country scene this year, having already won the Masters and Novice titles and placing second in the Intermediate Championships, losing by just six points. The Leinster Senior Championships is the highest level of competition in the province and the Tullamore women responded magnificently to become Leinster champions. On a bitterly cold day in Tymon Park in Dublin, Pauline Curley and Liz Cuskelly were in the leading group in the early stages of the 5k race. Then Pauline took the race by the scruff of the neck and opened up a lead on the field. It was a lead that she would never relinquish as she dominated proceedings and was pulling away all the way to the finish and won comfortably by a margin of 23 seconds from Donore Harriers woman, Fiona Mahon. Next home for Tullamore was Liz Cuskelly, who ran a typical gutsy race to finish eighth. Maire Triona Keane is having a great season and she continued in that vein of form to come home in fourteenth place. This is Rose Marie Masterson"s first year with the club and her efforts here proved invaluable as she finished in 28th position. Mary Daly also ran very well and came home in 37th place. When the team points total were added up, Tullamore emerged the winners in a closely fought battle with 51 points, from Sportsworld on 55 points and Raheny Shamrocks who were third with 59 points. Dublin took the county team honours from Meath in second place and the Offaly team took the bronze medals in third place. The Tullamore men"s team are also having a good season and while they fielded a slightly depleted team there were a lot of good performances on the day. The race was run over a distance of 10k and Declan Fahey ran well to finish in 23rd place. Next home for Tullamore was John Harkin who had one of his best runs in a while and finished in 38th position. A few places behind John in 42nd place was Adrian Curley. Luke Mitchell has had his training interrupted by injury in the last year and must be very pleased with his run here to finish in 47th place. Mick Murphy battled hard to finish in 51st place three places ahead of club captain John O"Connell. Johnny Feery came home in 57th position and the Tullamore scoring was completed by Richie Faulkner in 60th place. The Tullamore team finished in sixth position behind the winners, Raheny Shamrocks whilst Dublin took the county honours with the Offaly team coming fifth. Full Results Women"s 5k 1 Pauline Curley 19.03; 8 Liz Cuskelly 20.08; 14 Maire Triona Keane 20.31; 28 Rose Marie Masterson 22.21; 37 Mary Daly 22.49. Men"s 10k. 23 Declan Fahey 37.00; 38 John Harkin 38.13; 42 Adrian Curley 39.02; 47 Luke Mitchell 39.58; 51 Mick Murphy 40.42; 54 John O"Connell 41.39; 57 Johnny Feery 42.37; 60 Richie Faulkner 45.12. Fixtures February 1st: Leinster Senior, Junior and Masters Indoor Championships in Nenagh. February 7th and 8th: AAI Senior Indoor Championships in Belfast. February 15th: National Masters and Intermediate Cross Country championships in Santry, Dublin. March 1st: AAI National Senior & Junior Cross Country Championships in Santry, Dublin. Training Tuesday and Thursday at 6.30pm, Sunday morning at 8.30am (except on a race day). New members always welcome. On these dark evenings, it is important that all members wear reflective clothing when running on the roads. Membership is now due and costs €35 for the year.