Last Sunday saw the first event of the Louth Cross Country season, the Masters Championships and the uneven age group races.

The Drogheda and District Athletics Club grounds in Newtownstalaban were in immaculate condition and received much praise from the large number of quality athletes in attendance eager to test themselves on a course which included a purpose built hill.

Starting the day off well for DDAC was Robbie Keane who relished running on his home ground. Keane quickly took up the front running and opened a race winning gap on the second of three laps which he held to the finish to come home a popular winner.

Training partner Stephen Kelly had to run hard over the latter stages of the race to hold onto the bronze medal, with Rodney Thornton putting in a fast finish to take fourth spot.

Also running well and helping to score valuable points in the team race were David Gallagher, Colm Reilly and Alan Wade.

Thanks to their spirited running, Keane, Kelly, Thornton and Gallagher took the honours in the team category. Also running were Martin Russell, Derek Hackett and Karl Cooney.

In the Over 50 category, Shane Larkin covered the ground well to finish third overall, and backed up by Conor Cooney and Gerry McGeough this trio took the silvers medals in the team event.

In the Women's race there were some fine performances from Eimear Marron who finished 3rd in the Over 45 category, with Jenny Gregory close behind, followed by Mary King.

Thanks to their strong running and fourth scorer Yvonne Russell, the DDAC girls won the Women's team event by a mere three points from a quality squad from Dunleer AC.

In the 050 category Andrea McCabe, Kerry McHugh and Pamela Conlon combined well to place second in their team event.

Also taking place were the Uneven Age County Championships in which some of the highlights included the U9 Girls 500m team of Juliet Reilly, Caoimhe Houlihan and Sarah McHugh taking the bronze medals in the team event.

Meanwhile in the U9 Boys race Cormac Ferriter led from the start and crossed the line a clear winner. Backed up by team mates Dara Jein and Danny Clerkin this trio claimed the silver medals in the team event.

Dearbhla John-Forston had a storming run to finish third in the U11 Girls 1000m and, along with Ava McGinley and Eve Cunningham, took team gold.

Some strong running by the U13 Girls team of Hannah Cunningham, Eve Russell and Emily Garvey saw them take silver team medals against some good opposition.

The U15 Girls squad led by third place finisher Beatrice Cunningham, along with Bonnie Breach and Eleanor McMahon took the silver team medals.

In the U17 Girls 4K, Aine Carroll had a terrific run to finish third on what proved to be a testing course.

The U13 Boys race had a huge field of runners, but thanks to the efforts of Kealan Gaughran-Rami, Sé Callaghan, Dylan Foley and Conor Duggan our lads took third place in the team event.

The U17 Boys race saw the DDAC team of Ciaran Maree, Guillermo Munzo and Oisin McArdle take the silver team medals.

In the last races of the day, Cormac Russell ran well to finish runner up in the U19 Boys 4000m while Niamh Carroll was fourth in her U19 Girls 4000m.