Plenty of Prizes in Maynooth

It was a beautiful bright morning for the BHAA AIB/NUI Maynooth XC race. We had 26 runners from CSH for a 2.5mile race for ladies and 4miles for men. It was a flat course and very firm underfoot so there was plenty of debate beforehand if spikes were required. For many of the CSH runners it was their first time to run this race so after much travelling around the various areas of the Maynooth Campus they lined up for the 2 races. In the ladies race we had 9 runners and first home was Angie McElligot in a time of 17mins19sec, 2nd was Loise Seger in 17mins45 and 3rd was BHAA debutant Ann Horan in a time of 18mins11sec. It was very close among the CSH ladies with Ann, Maire Norris, Claire Egan and Brid Ryan all home within 19secs of each other. Well done also to Ollie, Mairead and Margaret who ran in the race. In the mens race we had 18 runners and first home for CSH and 5th in the overall race was Paul Cowhie in a fantastic time of 22mins9secs. This also earned Paul a well deserved 1st in his category. 2nd home for CSH was Martin Prunty in 25mins23sec and 3rd was Mark Lenahan in 26mins15sec. Also winning his category was Hughie Byrne in 32mins 58sec. We welcomed a BHAA debutant also in the mens field with Eoin Kealy finishing in 26mins22sec. It was great to see Ciaran Donaghy back at the races and he finished his race in 33mins18sec - welcome back. CSH also featured in the team prizes, congrats to Brid and Angie who were on the Dublin Hospitals Ladies team which came 1st. Congrats also to Stephen Lynch who was on the Ordnance Survey team that were 2nd in the B category. Overall conditions were great with the exception of a tough wind on the finishing straight and practically all improved their BHAA standards. Well done to all and see you next week in ALSAA.