ANNALEE ATHLETIC CLUB
Annalee AC hosted the 2005 County Cavan Senior Ladies and Men's Crosscountry Championships on Saturday, the 28th of January 2005. The event was held on clubmembers Sean and Evelyn O'Reilly's farm, just beside Cavan town in idyllic weather conditions. The course was well laid out on a typical Cavan drumlin landscape and proved a stern test for the athletes. Annalee AC entered the final day of competition with a slim 5 point advantage over Shercock AC in the overall championship race thanks to fine performances by all of our athletes in the evenage, unevenage, junior, novice and masters events (the first two legs of the competition) held earlier in the season.
The first event was the Senior Ladies 3k. There was an excellent turnout for the event with teams from Annalee, Innyvale, Bailieboro and Shercock participating. Team P. Elliott was also represented. For the 5th year in succession, Annalee AC's Louise Reilly was the clear winner. She eased her way over the course to a comfortable victory over Emily Meehan of Bailieboro who finished a strong second and Sinead Nolan of Annalee AC, who came 3rd. Our A team of Louise Reilly, Sinead Nolan, Claire Sheridan, Mary Farrell and Evelyn O'Reilly (missing Agnes Mundy through injury) finished in 1st place ahead of Shercock A and Bailieboro. The battle for 2nd and Srd teams was tight with only one point separating the two teams. Congratulations to the Annalee B team of Eileen Watters, Miriam Griffin and Caroline Brady who finished well but were out of the medal positions. The Annalee AC Ladies performances proved best on the day and so the Senior Ladies were awarded the Rice Crosscountry Cup for 2005.
The race for medals in the Senior Mens 10k event provided great excitement. Shercock athlete Noel Carroll battled with Bailieboro's Martin Fulton over the first few laps with the Shercock athlete pulling clear over the final two laps. At the race finish, Noel had opened a sizable gap on Martin Fulton. There was a real tussle for third spot with Annalee athlete Fionan O'Reilly having a great race with Brian O'Dowd of Bailieboro and Paul Fitzpatrick of Shercock. Third spot changed hands a number of times over the race but eventually, Brian O'Dowd proved the bronze medal winner with Fionan taking a superb 4th spot. The Annalee team of Fionan, Finbarr McGurren, Eddie Prunty and Sean O'Reilly all ran very well in the tough conditions but were edged out of the medals and the team finished in 4th place overall.
In the final tally for the overall Club competition, Shercock did just enough on the day to close the 5 point deficit and so both Annalee AC and Shercock share the Cross-country championship for 2005 with both clubs finishing on 115 points. The 2005 cross-country season has been a great success for Annalee AC with the club regaining the county Cross-country trophy after a gap of 13 years (albeit in a shared capacity with Shercock), Louise Reilly winning her 5th County Cross-country senior ladies title and the Ladies winning the Rice Cup for the Senior Cross-country.
The club thanks Evelyn and Sean for the use of their farm and all those club and county board members who helped with the staging of the event.
Carol Kiernan, Chair of the County Board presenting the Championship Trophy to 2005 Joint winners Annalee AC and Shercok AC
Carol Kiernan presenting the Lady Seniors Rice Cup to the Annalee AC team (see full team picture below)
Senior mens team- Finbarr McGurren, Fionan O'Reilly, Sean O'Reilly (missing from picture Eddie Prunty)
Eddie Prunty showing good form in midrace
