Buckley and Curley take cross country honours

The Offaly Senior and Junior Cross Country Championships were staged last Sunday in the grounds of Charleville Demense on a glorious sunny morning. The women's race was run over a distance of 5,000 metres and Pauline Curley, showing no effects from her Dublin marathon exertions just six days previously, went into an early lead. Pauline continued to increase her lead and came home a clear winner from Michelle Mullaney, with Rita Daly running on strong to take third. Bernie Daly shook off the stern challenge from Deirdre Flynn to take fourth place. The senior men's race over 10,000 metres consisted of eight laps and Catch Grennan pushed the pace right from the off and led on the first lap from last year's winner, Ferbane's Paul Buckley. Buckley eased into the lead on the second lap with Grennan manfully trying to maintain contact. However, the strong running of Buckley took him increasingly away from Grennan and he came home a clear winner in a time of 33.24. Grennan stuck to the task at hand and finished a good second. The battle for third place was an intriguing one with any one of John Donegan, Richie Galvin and David Fox capable of taking the bronze medal as this trio were still locked together with just 600 metres to go. In the end the superior finishing speed of Galvin proved decisive as he sprinted away from his rivals on the downhill stretch and he took third place, just two seconds ahead of Fox with John Donegan a further two seconds back in fifth. Sinead Rigney ran a fine race to win the junior women's 5,000 metre race in 22.41, while Harry Flynn took the junior men's 5,000 metre race in 21.07. Results Senior Men 10,000 metres: 1 Paul Buckley 33.34; 2 Catch Grennan 34.48; 3 Richie Galvin 36.06; 4 David Fox 36.08; 5 John Donegan 36.10; 6 Johnny Feery 39.12; 7 Jody O'Reilly 40.01; 8 Ray Martin 41.34; 9 Glen Finlay 41.40; 10 Fra Mollen 41.49; 11 John O'Connell 42.17; 12 Leonard Owens 45.32; 13 Brendan Kennedy 48.36. Team: 1 Tullamore Harriers (2, 3, 4, 5) 14 points. Senior Women 5,000 metres: 1 Pauline Curley 19.11; 2 Michelle Mullaney 21.54; 3 Rita Daly 23.18; 4 Bernie Daly 24.06; 5 Deirdre Flynn 24.39; 6 Una Mullen 24.43; 7 Martina Conlon 25.47; 8 Mary Casey 29.15; 9 Angela Martin 29.18; 10 Sharon Daly 29.24; 11 Veronica Casey 31.30. Team: 1 Tullamore Harriers (1, 2, 3, 4), 10 points. Junior Men 5,000 metres: 1 Harry Flynn 21.07. Junior Women 5,000 metres: 1 Sinead Rigney 22.41. Dublin Marathon One omission from last week's Dublin Marathon results was of course, Marathon man himself, Larry Rigney. Larry completed the course in 4.18.57 in what was his 129th marathon.