Master athletes endure wind and rain at Lingstown
While Ireland's top cross country runners, including United Striders bronze medal-winning star Emma Hickey, were performing heroically at the European Cross Country Champs in Portugal last Sunday, Wexford master athletes were, in their way, no less heroic as they met to do battle on the point-to-point course in Lingstown. The occasion was the rescheduled (from last January) Mr Oil Wexford Master Cross Country. With the year almost over and the 2026 edition of the event just a month away, further postponement was out of the question. This was one of those days when everyone deserved a medal just for turning up.
Master athletics starts with the 35+ category and works its way up through the ages. As in senior, novice and intermediate, there are, for each category, both individual and team medals.
The club had three athletes in the women’s 4km race: Ilze Bedrite was 1st F45, Catherine O’Connor was 1st F60, Siobhán Doyle was 1st F65 and Helen Sinnott was 15th overall. The team won bronze. First home for the club in the men’s race was Tony Harpur in 18th (2nd M45) with Paul Harpur 21st and John Dier 22nd (3rd M60). Overall, our seven athletes took home 5 individual age cat medals along with the Women's team bronze.
A big thank you to host club Kilmore AC and everyone involved in organising the event, not an easy task in such horrible conditions.
Results:
Women: 11th Catherine O'Connor 22.54 (1st F60); 13th Ilze Bedrite 23.42 (1st F45); 15th Helen Sinnott 25.42; 17th Siobhan Doyle 31.35 (1st F65). Team Menapians: Bronze.
Men: 18th Tony Harpur 28.50 (2nd M45); 21st Paul Harpur 34.22; 22nd John Dier 37.26 (3rd M60).
Photos by Wexford Athletics
