Kilmore pair to the fore in Aintree tests
AINTREE RACECOURSE, the renowned venue for its hosting of the Grand National annually, played host to the British and Irish Masters international cross-country meet on Saturday.
Athletes from England, Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland and Ireland all wore their national singlets with pride and distinction.
Two Wexford athletes competed in the women’s race, Fiona Kehoe and Jackie Carthy of Kilmore.
Both athletes have ran in this race for the last three years and continue to perform well in it, really putting their club on the map.
Fiona was one of the favourites in the Over-35 category, having finished first in the Irish team trials held in Abbotstown a few weeks earlier.
The 2016 national Novice cross-country champion and 2017 national indoor 800m champion is in fine form at the moment, having ran a couple of really strong cross-country and road races.
Fiona was always in the mix on Saturday and ran her heart out to finish as second Over-35 and the first Irish Over-35 home.
The Irish Over-35 team, which had finished second last year, managed to right the wrongs and claim gold. This was a superb result from what is a very strong team.
Jackie Carthy has ran this race many times down the years and is still a force to be reckoned with.
Jackie, who is in the twilight of her Over-45 career now, was unable to run at the trials due to illness but was selected as a wildcard on the team on the basis that her winning time at the trials race in 2018 was over a minute quicker than the winning time this year.
In Aintree, Jackie put in a really strong performance to finish in fourth postion in her category. She also led the Irish team to a silver team medal.
It is fantastic to have three international cross-country medals returning to Kilmore and Wexford.
Congratulations to both Fiona and Jackie on behalf of the County Board and all of Wexford’s clubs.