All Ireland Masters Cross Country Championships
Saturday, 8 February, 2020
Avondale House, Co. Wicklow
All Ireland Masters Cross Country Championships saw Liffey Valley athletes to the fore and in the medals with Peter Arthur and Pierce Geoghegan finishing in the top three places and winning The Gold and Silver medals in the V1 Category and also leading the club team to silver medals in the team competition.
From the gun three athletes broke clear with Brian Maher of KCH, Peter and Pierce setting the pace with the lead changing many times on a very tough course with a long hill on each lap to test the field of 300 runners. The last lap saw Peter get clear by a few yards from Maher a lead he held until the last 100 metres when Maher used his superior strength into the wind to take victory by three seconds from Peter who had the consolation of winning the V1 category with Pierce in 3rd spot and second in the V1 Cat.
Further down the field the battle for team places was fierce with Brendan Beere 41st, Ciaran Reilly 48th, Paul Balfe 110th all combining to push the club into the Silver Medal position. Pierce also had the satisfaction of leading the Dublin Team to gold medal in the Inter county race.
The V5 Section saw Tom O’Connor a past winner on two occasions in the V1 Cat score on the Dublin Team in the County section.
Overall, it was a great day for the club to have two athletes in the top three in a National Championships and a credit to the coaching structure in the club with all athletes on the team being part of a training squad led by Jim Davis who has coached both team and individual medal winners at European and National level.
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