The Leinster Senior Cross Country Championships was held on the 15 January in a cold but dry Hurley grounds of StSenans in Kilmacow Kilkenny. The ground was good with lots of twists and turns to make the course interesting and one killer hill to make it hard. The girls were up first on the 5km course with some top names in the field. The club race of the day belonged to Jean Wilson who battled the entire race to say up with the leading pack and came in a brilliant 4th place. The rest of the team followed close behind and even though there was stiff competition in the team event and some of the top team members where missing the girls still claimed first place.
The men were up next for the 10Km race with five sprints up the hill required. From the first corner it was clear though Raheny Shamrocks came to do business with 4 of their runners ending up in the top 5 and a team total of 13 confirmed it. Each of the Sportsworld team had their own battles through the race and ended up with a respectable 4th. Again there were two or three team members missing with work and injury but with new cross country runners like Damien Kelly racing we had a full team representing the club.
StSenans made improvements to the course adding wood chips to inclines and declines making it a lot safer and a bit easier, and with Leinster Athletics even having the results on line with photos the next day it shows improvements can be made when there are people willing to do it.
Sportsworld ladies team Leinster Senior champions
Jean Wilson 4th
Lucy Darcy 15th
Stephanie Bergan 17th
Helen White 19th
Ciara Foster 22nd
Mens team 4th
Phil Kilgannon 16th
Paul O Connell 25th
Paul Duffy 29th
Michael Cunningham 32nd
Damien Kelly 46th
