While Storm Éowyn battered the county on Friday, weather conditions had not improved much by Sunday when the Laois Novice Road Championships took place along the canal in Vicarstown.
Wind and rain welcomed a large crowd to Vicarstown making conditions difficult for athletes.
The ladies race took place over 3km with the men doubling the distance for 6km.
It was a home victory in the ladies race as Della McLoughlin, fresh from her appearance on Ireland’s Fittest Family, came home in first place.
Sarah Fleming led the St Abban’s charge when she finished in 2nd place with Rebecca Condell of Ballyroan, Abbeyleix & District taking bronze.
Karen Kavanagh was next for St Abbans in 5th place and with Audrey Byrne, Etna Sourke and Amy Burtenshaw running strong races the ladies were in the running for team medals.
The team event was exceptionally close with only three points separating the teams.
St Abban’s finished in 1st place with 34 points, Oughaval were just behind in 2nd with 35 points and Portlaoise completed the podium with 37 points.
The Men’s race was much tighter at the front with a lead group of three developing early on.
Dan McLoughlin (Oughaval), Tom Kenny (St Abban’s) and William Kerr (Ballyroan, Abbeyleix & District) didn’t seem too phased by the tough conditions as they put a gap between them and the rest of the field.
As they made the turn at 3km, Dan Mcloughlin appeared to make a gap on the other athletes.
However, Kenny timed his race to perfection coming home strongly to take victory by seven seconds.
McLoughlin finished in 2nd place with Kerr completing the podium in 3rd place.
Once again, the team event was close – particularly for top spot.
When the scores were added the St Abban’s team of Kenny, Patrick Dunne (4th), PJ Leonard (7th) and William Kelly (9th) finished with same number of points as Oughaval AC.
They were represented by McLoughin (2nd), Kristian Redmond (5th), Brian Hogan (6th) and Paddy McLoughin (8th).
In the event of this taking place, it comes down to the 4th scorer on each team.
Oughaval’s Paddy McLoughlin finished just ahead of William Kelly which saw Oughaval take team honours with St Abban’s in 2nd place. Ballyroan, Abbeyleix & District completed the podium in 3rd place.
Well done to all of the athletes in action on Sunday and to Oughaval AC who did a great job in very testing conditions.
The next event on the Laois Road Championships will take place on February 16 when the Laois Senior Road Championships will take place in Ballyroan.
Check out the full result below:
Laois County Novice Women’s Race
| Time | Finishing place | Race Number | First Name | Last Name | Club Name |
| 00:16:35 | 1 | 147 | Della | McLoughlin | Oughaval A.C. |
| 00:17:20 | 2 | 163 | Sarah | Fleming | St. Abbans A.C. |
| 00:17:38 | 3 | 137 | Rebecca | Condell | Ballyroan Abbeyleix & District A.C. |
| 00:17:45 | 4 | 158 | Caitriona | Fogarty | Portlaoise A.C. |
| 00:18:08 | 5 | 165 | Karen | Kavanagh | St. Abbans A.C. |
| 00:18:14 | 6 | 136 | Liz | McWey | Ballyroan Abbeyleix & District A.C. |
| 00:18:29 | 7 | 162 | Ilona | Baczynska | St Michaels A.C. |
| 00:18:35 | 8 | 153 | Rebecca | Marshall | Portlaoise A.C. |
| 00:18:44 | 9 | 142 | Deirdre | Miller | Oughaval A.C. |
| 00:18:51 | 10 | 154 | Anna | Duggan | Portlaoise A.C. |
| 00:19:07 | 11 | 167 | Audrey | Byrne | St. Abbans A.C. |
| 00:19:31 | 12 | 144 | Laura | Kealy | Oughaval A.C. |
| 00:19:37 | 13 | 148 | Catherine | Stapleton | Oughaval A.C. |
| 00:19:41 | 14 | 161 | Claire | Carroll | St Michaels A.C. |
| 00:19:49 | 15 | 159 | Lucy | Dunne | Portlaoise A.C. |
| 00:19:53 | 16 | 166 | Ethna | Sourke | St. Abbans A.C. |
| 00:19:59 | 17 | 157 | Noreen | Daly | Portlaoise A.C. |
| 00:20:40 | 18 | 160 | Karen | Tooher | St Michaels A.C. |
| 00:20:43 | 19 | 141 | Grainne | O Connor | Oughaval A.C. |
| 00:20:46 | 20 | 149 | Aisling | Roberts | Portlaoise A.C. |
| 00:20:48 | 21 | 150 | Linda | Reilly | Portlaoise A.C. |
| 00:20:51 | 22 | 139 | Caoimhe | Kenny | Ballyroan Abbeyleix & District A.C. |
| 00:21:00 | 23 | 140 | Liz | O’Reilly | Oughaval A.C. |
| 00:21:01 | 24 | 152 | Gohar | Kostanyan | Portlaoise A.C. |
| 00:21:04 | 25 | 155 | Lynn | O’Callaghan | Portlaoise A.C. |
| 00:21:12 | 26 | 164 | Amy | Burtenshaw | St. Abbans A.C. |
| 00:21:57 | 27 | 138 | Mairead | Sinnott | Ballyroan Abbeyleix & District A.C. |
| 00:23:11 | 28 | 156 | Camilla | Robino | Portlaoise A.C. |
Laois County Novice Men’s Race
| Time | Finishing place | Race Number | First Name | Last Name | Club Name |
| 00:21:13 | 1 | 210 | Tom | Kenny | St. Abbans A.C. |
| 00:21:20 | 2 | 182 | Dan | McLoughlin | Oughaval A.C. |
| 00:21:25 | 3 | 168 | William | Kerr | Ballyroan Abbeyleix & District A.C. |
| 00:21:57 | 4 | 199 | Patrick | Dunne | St. Abbans A.C. |
| 00:22:04 | 5 | 174 | Kristian | Redmond | Oughaval A.C. |
| 00:22:43 | 6 | 179 | Brian | Hogan | Oughaval A.C. |
| 00:22:49 | 7 | 202 | Pj | Leonard | St. Abbans A.C. |
| 00:22:53 | 8 | 181 | Paddy | McLoughlin | Oughaval A.C. |
| 00:22:56 | 9 | 211 | William | Kelly | St. Abbans A.C. |
| 00:23:03 | 10 | 170 | John | Troy | Ballyroan Abbeyleix & District A.C. |
| 00:23:11 | 11 | 177 | Colin | Fennin | Oughaval A.C. |
| 00:23:19 | 12 | 205 | John | Sourke | St. Abbans A.C. |
| 00:23:44 | 13 | 189 | Keith | O Shea | Portlaoise A.C. |
| 00:23:51 | 14 | 188 | Nikolas | De Giorgis | Portlaoise A.C. |
| 00:23:56 | 15 | 198 | Liam | Byrne | St. Abbans A.C. |
| 00:24:05 | 16 | 203 | Thomas | Fitzgerald | St. Abbans A.C. |
| 00:24:08 | 17 | 187 | William | Goodwin | Portlaoise A.C. |
| 00:24:16 | 18 | 171 | Alexander | Caraffi | Ballyroan Abbeyleix & District A.C. |
| 00:24:36 | 19 | 183 | Joseph | Fitzpatrick | Oughaval A.C. |
| 00:24:40 | 20 | 209 | Neil | Murtagh | St. Abbans A.C. |
| 00:25:02 | 21 | 178 | Michael | Booth | Oughaval A.C. |
| 00:25:38 | 22 | 180 | Cormac | Deegan | Oughaval A.C. |
| 00:25:49 | 23 | 172 | Ciaran | Freil | Ballyroan Abbeyleix & District A.C. |
| 00:26:09 | 24 | 192 | Seamus | McCoubrey | St Michaels A.C. |
| 00:26:23 | 25 | 186 | Barra | Ó Nualláin | Oughaval A.C. |
| 00:26:43 | 26 | 176 | John F | Boland | Oughaval A.C. |
| 00:26:53 | 27 | 197 | Francis | Fleming | St. Abbans A.C. |
| 00:26:54 | 28 | 200 | James | Noaln | St. Abbans A.C. |
| 00:26:59 | 29 | 191 | John | McMahon | Portlaoise A.C. |
| 00:27:59 | 30 | 184 | Ruairi | Jago | Oughaval A.C. |
| 00:28:18 | 31 | 204 | Cormac | Fleming | St. Abbans A.C. |
| 00:28:51 | 32 | 206 | Seán | Sourke | St. Abbans A.C. |
| 00:29:10 | 33 | 169 | Alan | Fox | Ballyroan Abbeyleix & District A.C. |
| 00:29:28 | 34 | 173 | Paul | Tynan | Oughaval A.C. |
| 00:29:58 | 35 | 185 | Philip | Carroll | Oughaval A.C. |
| St Abbans AC – Winners | ||||
| 2 | 163 | Sarah | Fleming | St. Abbans A.C. |
| 5 | 165 | Karen | Kavanagh | St. Abbans A.C. |
| 11 | 167 | Audrey | Byrne | St. Abbans A.C. |
| 16 | 166 | Ethna | Sourke | St. Abbans A.C. |
| 34 points | ||||
| Oughaval AC – second | ||||
| 1 | 147 | Della | McLoughlin | Oughaval A.C. |
| 9 | 142 | Deirdre | Miller | Oughaval A.C. |
| 12 | 144 | Laura | Kealy | Oughaval A.C. |
| 13 | 148 | Catherine | Stapleton | Oughaval A.C. |
| 35 points | ||||
| Portlaoise AC – third | ||||
| 4 | 158 | Caitriona | Fogarty | Portlaoise A.C. |
| 8 | 153 | Rebecca | Marshall | Portlaoise A.C. |
| 10 | 154 | Anna | Duggan | Portlaoise A.C. |
| 15 | 159 | Lucy | Dunne | Portlaoise A.C. |
| 37 points | ||||
| Oughaval AC – winners | |||||
| 2 | 182 | Dan | McLoughlin | Oughaval A.C. | |
| 5 | 174 | Kristian | Redmond | Oughaval A.C. | |
| 6 | 179 | Brian | Hogan | Oughaval A.C. | |
| 8 | 181 | Paddy | McLoughlin | Oughaval A.C. | |
| 21 points | |||||
| St Abbans AC – second place | |||||
| 1 | 210 | Tom | Kenny | St. Abbans A.C. | |
| 4 | 199 | Patrick | Dunne | St. Abbans A.C. | |
| 7 | 202 | Pj | Leonard | St. Abbans A.C. | |
| 9 | 211 | William | Kelly | St. Abbans A.C. | |
| 21 points | |||||
| Ballyroan Abbeyleix and District – third place | |||||
| 3 | 168 | William | Kerr | Ballyroan Abbeyleix & District A.C. | |
| 10 | 170 | John | Troy | Ballyroan Abbeyleix & District A.C. | |
| 18 | 171 | Alexander | Caraffi | Ballyroan Abbeyleix & District A.C. | |
| 23 | 172 | Ciaran | Freil | Ballyroan Abbeyleix & District A.C. | |
| 54 points | |||||
SEE ALSO – Laois County Council open helpline for those who need support post Storm Éowyn
