Connacht Cross-Country leg 3 Roscommon results

A wet day at the races, Mayo AC in finish order at Roscommon Racecourse: l-r Angela O’Connor, Paula Donnellan, Noreen McManamon and Joan Walsh
Another day, another cross-country competition.
Moving directly west from yesterday’s heroics at Santry, the Connacht Unevens Cross-Country Championships and Leg III of the Senior League took place today at Roscommon Racecourse (Sunday November 13.)
There was good spectator facilities as all starts and finishes were in front of the stand. Like last week at Drumshanbo the weather had a big influence on the day.
Unlike Drumshanbo (where the purists are still maintaining that the course was real cross-country), today’s underfoot conditions were good to soft with a grassy surface right round the course.
The stands also provided some welcome shelter from rain and wind for spectators, and a fairly dry changing area for competitors.
A number of underage races preceded the two adult events.
The field that lined up at 2pm included u17 boys, senior women, o35 and o50 women, and M65 men.
Mayo AC had Paula Donnellan W35 and three W50s Angela O’Connor, Noreen McManamon and Joan Walsh competing.
All ran 5k – one short lap and three long. Rain got exponentially heavier as the race went on making it a deceptively tough run, though being a racecourse no steep hills, unlike Drumshanbo!.
Well done to our four :
Angela led home 2nd W50, with Paula 5th W35, Noreen 4th W50, and Joan 8th W50 following.
They all ran bravely up the long incline to the finish – exhausted and with much darker and tighter vests than when they started.
Medals for O35, O50 and teams will be awarded after this 3rd leg of the series .
We’ll post the final league results when Connacht publish.
