Curley does the double in Peter Devery Shield

The second leg of the Peter Devery Shield took place last Sunday in Charleville Estate. This was the last Cross Country race of the season and, with a return of the wintry weather, it took place in typical Cross Country conditions. Indeed, the 36 hardy runners that competed were lucky insofar as the race was run off in a break between the snow showers. This race is a team event between Ballyfin Athletic Club and Tullamore Harriers who have an under 40 and over 40 team. Ballyfin held a narrow lead of four points over Tullamore under 40 from the first leg. The race was 4800 metres in distance and run over four laps. Adrian Curley, who won the first leg, again took out the pace from the start and he was closely followed by Ciaran Fitzpatrick and Robaird Miller from Ballyfin and Tullamore men Mick Murphy and Jody O"Reilly. Curley kept pushing the pace and got away from the chasing group going up the hill on the second lap and he increased his lead all the way to the finish to win by over one hundred metres from Fitzpatrick, with Robaird Miller a close third. In fourth pace was Mick Murphy, who had enough in hand, to keep ahead of Martin Carroll who finished fifth. In the team competition, Ballyfin and Tullamore under 40 finished level on points on the day which meant that Ballyfin maintained the lead they had established from the first leg and, in doing so, won the Peter Devery Shield. Full Results 4800 metres (B denotes Ballyfin) 1 Adrian Curley 17.23; 2 Ciaran Fitzpatrick (B) 17.47; 3 Robaird Miller (B) 17.50; 4 Mick Murphy 18.10; 5 Martin Carroll 18.13; 6 Jody O"Reilly 18.21; 7 Anthony Rickard 18.23; 8 Johnny Feery 18.47; 9 John Scanlon 18.57; 10 Stephen Bland (B) 18.59; 11 Ciaran Keenan (B) 19.03; 12 Liz Cuskelly 19.44; 13 Richie Faulkner 19.59; 14 Joe Wrafter 20.13; 15 Pat Conlon 20.34; 16 Liam Dunne 20.39; 17 Dan Allen (B) 20.43; 18 Kevin White (B) 21.22; 19 Vinny Devery (B) 21.37; 20 Mary Daly 21.40; 21 Maurice Fitzgerald 21.42; 22 Alo Maher (B) 22.04; 23 Nick Devery (B) 22.43; 24 Owen Conroy (B) 22.49; 25 Nicole Cuskelly 22.51; 26 Fran Mollen 23.00; 27 John O"Connell 23.07; 28 Jim Langan 23.12; 29 David Keenan (B) 23.43; 30 J. Scully (B) 24.09; 31 Andy O"Grady 24.10; 32 Tony McCormack 24.25; 33 Martina Conlon 24.58; 34 Una Mullen 25.21; 35 Mary Walsh 26.45; 36 Jim Dolan 28.43. Overall team results: 1 Ballyfin 413 points; 2 Tullamore Under 40, 417 points 3 Tullamore Over 40, 511 points. Ballycotton 10 Miles The Ballycotton 10-mile race attracted a huge field of almost 3,000 runners to the East Cork venue. The Harriers were well represented and Pauline Curley had a good run in the cold and windy conditions to come home in first place in the women"s race in a time of 59.01. Pauline Lambe ran a super race to finish fourth Senior Woman in a personal best time of 62.08. Brendan Kennedy recorded a time of 1.16.36 while John Cronin, who has trained hard since the New Year, was very happy to finish in a time of 1.40.00 which was his target time. Fixtures March 15th: McNamara 5 Mile road race at 10pm in Tullamore Harriers; Tuesday March 24th: Spring League first Leg : 3,000 Metres at 7pm; Tuesday March 31st: Spring League: mile race at 7pm; April 5th: Bupa 10k, Dublin.