Calvo crowns a fine double
THE SECOND day of the Wexford Athletics county cross-country championships took place in Adamstown on Sunday.
The uneven age groups and Intermediate championships were up for grabs, and despite the rainfall Sunday morning, crowds arrived to view a great afternoon’s running.
The day started with the Under-9 girls’ competition, with Ciara Laffan (Bree) taking first place, Eabha Keane (D.M.P.) second, and Maura Doyle third.
The Under-9 boys was won by Seán O’Brien (United Striders), with Hayden Kenny (Bree) second and Alex O’Keeffe (Taghmon) third.
The Under-11 girls’ 1,500m championship race was won by Gráinne English (Adamstown). Second was Layla Stafford (D.M.P.) and third was Katie Doyle (Bree). D.M.P. won the team event with United Striders second.
The Under-11 boys’ 1,500m was won by Conn Mernagh of D.M.P. (adding to his third place in the Under-12 championship). Second was Kevin O’Mahoney of D.M.P. (Under-10 county champion), and third was Ronan Shannon (United Striders).
Team results: 1, D.M.P.; 2, United Striders; 3, Adamstown.
The Under-13 girls’ 2,500m was a repeat of the Under-14 championship race two weeks previously with a double for D.M.P. - a clear winner in Clara Keane, already Under-14 champion, and second place for Aoibhinn Mernagh, also second in the Under-14 race.
Third place was filled by Eimear Fortune (Kilmore). D.M.P. won the team event with Kilmore second and S.B.R. third.
The boys’ Under-13 race was won by Aidan Shannon (United Striders). Myles Hewlett earned second place for United Striders again, and after a sprint finish third place was a tie between twins Robert and Ben Wall (Adamstown). Team results: 1, United Striders; 2, D.M.P.; 3, S.B.R.
The girls’ Under-15 championship was Róisín O’Reilly (Menapians). Second was Aoibhinn Crean (Adamstown), and third was Aaron Shannon (United Striders). United Striders enjoyed a team double, with the ‘A’ side in first place and the ‘B’ crew second.
In the boys’ Under-15 race, Joe Byrne hit the front from the start and added to his Under-14 title with another win. Aaron Browne (United Striders) was second with Conor Keane third. Team results: 1, United Striders; 2, D.M.P.
The Under-17 girls were up next over 4,000 metres. Mairéad Crean of Adamstown took first place, with Katie Murphy (United Striders) second and Rebecca Bawden (United Striders) third.
James Boland took the Under-17 boys’ 5,000 metres title, with Aedan Rodgers of United Striders second and Tomás Breen (S.B.R.) third.
Under-19 girls’ champion was Annalise Crean (Adamstown) with Katie Daly (Kilmore) second. Liam Turner won the Under-19 boys’ 6,000m title in a time of 22.40.
The Intermediate championship was the main event of the day and the ladies were first to take to the course with a 4k race.
Sharon Cloney of Kilmore led from the start, finally winning in a time of 17.36. Second was Ciara Bowe (S.B.R.), and Christine Stone of D.M.P. took third place. Slaney Olympic took first place in the team event, with S.B.R. second and United Striders third.
The men’s 8,000m Intermediate championship had 34 on the starting line. Pedro Calvo of S.B.R. added the title to his Novice cross-country crown won two weeks previously with a finishing time of 29.02.
John McGrath (United Striders), who had tracked Pedro up to the last 1k, was second and Andrew Dowse of Croghan was third in 29.55.
The team event was won by S.B.R., with United Striders second and Croghan third.
Wexford Athletics would like to thank Adamstown Athletic Club for hosting the event, and the Furlong family for the use of their land for both the races and parking.
Finally, a reminder that the next county meeting will be held this Wednesday in the Enniscorthy Enterprise Centre at 8 p.m. All clubs should be represented. GOREY MOTORCYCLE racer Graham Whitmore did it again by winning the double (Mondello Masters Superbike and the Southern championship) motorcycle racing titles for the second year running.
Graham raced a very impressive season both in Mondello and up north at the Bishopscourt racetrack. Winning the Lightweight Supersport championship with 216 points, with his nearest rival on 156, meant he won the Mondello Masters very comfortably.
However, the last day’s racing could have ended terribly as Graham woke up to a very sick stomach which could have ruined the action for him. He soldiered on though and made sure to secure the championship.
Things are looking up for Graham as he heads into the 2017 season, with his eyes set on making it a hat-trick. He has plenty of support from his mother Mary, girlfriend Nicole, and dad Robert who is the master mechanic, keeping his bike running smoothly for each race. He is well backed too by the rest of his family who religiously go to each race, and also his sponsors: J&V Tyres, Power’s of Gorey, Toss Byrne’s of inch and James Doyle.
Wexford racer Kevin Dempsey also did well, coming second in the Mondello Masters Superbike championship with 190 points in the Principal Insurance Pre-Injection class. All the way through it was a very tightly-fought championship with a recent crash wrecking Kevin’s bike.
This could have meant the end but with his chief mechanic, Dermot Richards, pulling out all the stops to have him ready for the next round he was entered in, this helped in securing his second place overall.
Kevin will be moving up to a different machine and class for the 2017 season and hopes this will be his year, but it is a long road ahead which will have many hard races to compete in. Kevin is sponsored by Tom Devereux Quarries.
Another young man making waves, this time in the Irish road racing series, is Wexford’s Graham Kennedy who had a great year on some of the toughest road racing tracks in Ireland.
These include the Faugheen 50, Skerries, and Ulster G.P., with a win in the Dundrod national race and then being out alongside the likes of T.T. racers Bruce Anstey and Michael Dunlop. Graham will be a name to watch for the 2017 season as we are sure he will do well.
As his chief mechanic too, Dermot Richards can always be found in the paddock worrying about the young men he works with.
Finally, another Wexford motorcycle racer regularly seen at the Mondello Masters races is local quarry owner Tom Devereux with his stand-out all-green machine. He does well amongst very tough and fast racers in a highly-competitive class.
Tom keeps up with the other riders in the Supersport class and is always bubbly. No matter how the day is going, Tom makes time to talk to spectators who mingle in around the paddock.
Very little is known about these men outside of the racing circles, and hopefully this will make people aware of these motorcycle heroes of Wexford. Maybe, just maybe, they will gain some more support from their localities as a result.