Vicarstown was a sea of yellow on Sunday morning as local athletic club, Oughaval AC, hosted the Laois Athletics Championship Novice Road Race.
The races took place on the Barrow Blueway with the permission of Waterways Ireland, the women’s race over 3km and the men’s over 6km.
Gold in the men’s race went to Derek Bracken from the St Michael’s Club in Portarlington while Aoife McEvoy (St Abban’s) was the first woman home.
Host club Oughaval had a massive turnout of runners though and this was rewarded with the team gold where Oisin Jago (2nd), Richard McLoughlin (4th), Kristian Redmond (7th) and Daniel McLoughlin (8th) combined for 21 points.
In all Oughaval had 20 runners, making up five teams in total.
Not only did Oughaval AC host the event, they provided a huge proportion of the participants too.
With Individual and Team Medals up for grabs, there was some super running.
In the women’s race, St Abban’s dominated, filling the first four places where Aileen Lynch, Sharon O’Hara and Margo Dowling followed McEvoy home.
The Novice Races also took place on the Barrow Blueway path, by kind permission of Waterways Ireland.
In the Novice Ladies 3k race, St Abbans were dominant, with the first three places, and also winning the team, with their B team finishing 2nd ahead of the host club Oughaval.
Oughaval AC women Rachel Scully, Catherine Stapleton, Hilary Treacy and Deirdre Miller worked hard into a strong wind to set themselves up for a good finish, and claim the bronze medals.
Oughaval AC’s B team of Frances Lalor, Edel Carth, Antoinette Fenlon Carroll, Trish Duncan and Erin Thomas finished 5th, not too far behind Portlaoise in 4th
The mens race, over 6km, proved very competitive. Heading out into a stiff breeze, the Oughaval lads kept close to the front.
Close to the halfway turnaround point, Derek Bracken of St. Michaels made a break, closely followed by Oisin Jago of Oughaval.
With the wind in their backs after the turnaround, there was no catching them.
A tight group of Tom Kenny, Tom Kelly and PJ Leonard ( St Abbans) fought it out with Richard and Daniel McLoughlin and Kristina Redmond of Oughaval AC.
Oughaval, the defending champions were under severe pressure right to the end, but held on to the title from St Abbans, with just 3 points to spare, with St Michaels in third place.
Oughavals B team of Shane Holohan, Brian Hogan, Paddy McLoughlin and Cormac Deegan were right up there, and there was very little in it in the end, finishing 4th team, just ahead of Portlaoise AC in 5th
Oughaval had huge numbers in this race, fielding no less than 5 teams of four in this field of 40 runners.
The full set of results from the Novice races is as follows:
Indeed Sunday was a busy morning of running on the banks of the Grand Canal where the Novice Road races followed on from the weekly junior 2km parkrun.
69 youngsters turned up on a windy course, a huge number.
Riley Connolly led home the field, in a time of 7:06, and he is closing in on the magical sub 7 mins for this 2k course.
Aine O’Loughlin, a first timer, led home the girls in 8:16, and we expect to see a lot more of Aine in the coming months.
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