It was a cold sometimes blustery but sunny day in Navan for the Leinster Novice cross country championship. Held at Navan adventure centre and racecourse for the second year running, the ground was dry but it was a course with a lot of twists and turns and started and finished on an uphill. In the women’s 4k race with 106 runners, 2 big laps, Fiona Hegarty was 1st Donore home in 38th, and aoife Ni Thuathail made good ground in 48th. Audrey Gahan was 8 seconds behind in 53rd. Fiona Barrins had a solid run in 71st and Lee chambers in 88th. The team finished in 9th place

In the men’s 6k race over 4 laps 7 Donore men took to the line in a field of 115 and for a time Alan Farrell , Alasdair Brown, Jonathan Farrell and Paul Cummins were closely matched. In the end, Alan was first home in 34th with Alasdair 7 seconds behind in 40th and Paul Cummins one second behind in 42nd. Jonathan Farrell was next in 52nd, Javier Romero Ferrera 69th , Craig Scott 96th and Andrew wilson 106th bringing the team to 8th.