THE first day of the Cork County Cross-Country Championships took place at Lower Carrigadrohid outside Macroom, once again superbly organised by the West Muskerry club, writes John Walshe.

And on a day of much local success for the hosts, there was no doubting the outstanding performance of the meeting which came from 19-year-old Saoirse Twomey in the combined U18/U20 race.

Having won the latter title by a clear margin at the same venue 12 months ago, Twomey was even more dominant on this occasion.

Taking the lead straight from the gun, the West Muskerry athlete eventually finished over a minute clear of Hannah Smith of Leevale with Lauren Dinan from the same club in third.

‘I was going to sit and wait but I decided to go out from the start, there was such a home crowd so it was lovely,’ said the winner.

‘I felt fine all the way, although the last lap was obviously tough with the hill and everything.’

After a highly successful schools’ career with St Mary’s, Macroom, Twomey has now commenced her third level education at UCC where she is studying music and Irish.

‘It’s a big change with a different training structure but I’m looking forward now to the cross-country season.’

Saoirse’s performance was all the more remarkable as it came just two weeks after the Copenhagen Half-Marathon – a distance she was running for the first time – which she completed in a highly impressive 1:20:16.

She traveled there with club colleague Aoife Lucey who was completing her tenth half-marathon in a year in aid of Childhood Cancer Ireland to mark her ten years cancer free.

As the event also incorporated the World Championship, it was an occasion of a lifetime for both and a true act of gratitude from Aoife who finished the course herself in a personal best of 1:24:34.

As Aoife also attends UCC, both will now be part of a very strong college team this Saturday when they take on the Irish Universities cross-country decider at Dundalk IT.

With ten runners from the club in the U18/U20 race, West Muskerry took second team award behind Leevale with Bandon taking the bronze medals.

In the men’s U18/U20 race, there was a strong performance from Finnian Lawton from Durrus AC in third position with Daniel Dollard of Bandon one place behind in fourth.

The two senior races were a repeat of last year. Sinead O’Connor of Leevale took the women’s title and 46-year-old Michael Harty of East Cork showed that age is no barrier when winning his fourth Cork senior championship in five years.