Laois Athletics Club competes at the Laois Cross Country Championships

The Laois Senior County Cross Country Championships took place in Colm Burkes field in Barrowhouse. The ground was good and dry and it was a little uneven underfoot to make up for the lack of mud. Saint Michael's had seven athletes in total, two in the ladies and seven in the men.

First up was the Senior ladies taking on the 5k course. It was three laps for Aisling Stapleton and Kate Connolly, both making their debut at the Laois Senior Cross Country. Aisling had a super run, coming tenth overall after a good battle with Oughaval athlete Martina Dunne. Kate finished a very good fourth place after fighting it out with two St. Abban's ladies with Caitlin McDonald making a move in the final lap to take third. This was a very good run for Kate who has only turned 18yrs this year.

The second race was the Senior men where St Michael's had Derek Bracken, Mark Milligan, Alex O’Connor, Owen Connolly, Dave Murphy, Aidan McGee and Tony Vaughan. The lads took on 6 laps covering 10k. The starting pace was slow and the team paced well to put themselves in a position to fight for a medal. As the pace quickened in the second lap, Derek Bracken and Mark Milligan pushed on to finish 10th and 14th, great running in a stacked field.

Alex O’Connor in his first ever cross country finished strong, to place 21st just ahead of team-mate Owen Connolly, with Dave Murphy not far behind to give the club five runners ahead of the third scorer on the fourth place team. The most important scorers in a cross country team event are the 6th scorer and 7th runner, Aidan McGee finished strongly in 31 and Tony Vaughan who was outside of the team medals but contributed to the team score by being ahead of scorers on the fourth place team.

Big congratulations to the newly crowned Laois Champions; Mary Mulhare (Portlaoise AC) and Jack Fenlon (STA).