THE venue may have changed and weather conditions were an improvement on that experienced two weeks before, but the senior girls’ race at the 123.ie Munster Schools Cross-Country saw a repeat result with Saoirse Twomey (St Mary’s, Macroom) getting the better of Caoimhe Flannery (Skibbereen Community School).

BY JOHN WALSHE

Originally fixed for the Tramore Valley Park venue which staged the South Munsters, conditions dictated a move to the Cork Athletics grounds near Riverstick. Although a strong wind prevailed, underfoot conditions were much better and resulted in a bigger winner margin for Twomey, who came home with 17 seconds to spare from Flannery over the three-kilometre distance.

‘It was hilly but definitely better than the muck of the last day,’ admitted the winner. ‘I said I would go out fast and see what happened, so it worked out okay.’

Flannery, who also finished second to Twomey in this decider last year, ran a more cautious race on this occasion.

‘I was hardly in the top 15 early on but then throughout the race I moved up,’ she noted.

There will be a welcome break for the Skibbereen Community School Leaving Cert student this week as she is part of an Athletics Ireland group who are heading off to Portugal for a five-day warm weather training stint. And then it’s on to Newtownabbey, near Belfast, where the 123.ie Irish Schools championships take place on Saturday, March 7th. Last year, Flannery finished an impressive eighth in this race with Twomey somewhat back in 22nd, performances that both will be hoping to improve on at the Northern Ireland venue.

Saoirse and Caoimhe may be rivals once the gun goes, but as soon as they cross the finish line the friendship and respect for each other is certainly evident and both are definitely an example to the younger athletes who aspire to follow in their wake.

There was a double celebration for Twomey as her St Mary’s school took the coveted team title, her first place backed up by Rebecca O’Neill (14th), Emily Cronin (20th) and Sarah Neville (44th). All four are also members of the West Muskerry Athletic Club.

In a demanding senior boys’ race over 6km, there was a fine sixth place for Daniel Dollard from Hamilton High School with John Coakley (St Brogan’s, Bandon) in 11th also qualifying for Newtownabbey.