The blue riband event of the Louth Cross Country season, the Senior Championships took place last Sunday at Bellurgan Park, close to Cooley. Run over a tough 1500m circuit designed to sap the energy out of an athlete's legs, this course wasn't for the faint hearted.

In the first race of the day, the Women's 6k, the Drogheda and District AC girls were really up against it as both Dunleer and North East Runners had gotten their best teams out and went on to dominate the contest with Dunleer taking the first two individual places, and winning the team title with just 15 points.

With North East second on 29 points, the D&D team of Carmel Keenan, Yvonne McMahon, Jenny Gregory, Andrea McCabe and Mary King gave it their all over four tough laps to take the bronze medals, and it's this type of running that builds the mental toughness that's needed to succeed in athletics. Well done girls.

Next up was the Men's 7.5K, a new distance to bring this event into line with next year's European championships. With North East Runners having taken the title for the previous two years, the pressure was on to take the cup back to Drogheda.

In what turned out to be a thrilling race to watch, the early stages were dominated by a four man break which saw eventual winner Chris Keenan and Liam Mulligan, both from D&D push the pace. Their hard work was rewarded as over the final lap they opened vital yards on their opponents to hold those positions.

Meanwhile Paul Smith and Robbie Keane were putting in the hard work as they chased down a strong running group containing four of the North East Lads, and the team title hung in the balance with only a handful of points separating them.

With just a lap left to run, both clubs had their tally men scribbling away as they tried to predict the outcome.

D&D’s closing duo of Cormac Canning and Shane Larkin were making heroic efforts to close down their rivals, with both runners succeeding in catching the opposing club's athlete.

Alas when the scores were totted up, North East took the title by the narrowest of margins with a score of 50 points, to Drogheda and District's 55.

With three in a row in the bag for the North County rivals, the plans are already being laid in the search for those vital few points that can make all the difference at this level.

Also taking place were the Even Age Championships which were well attended by juveniles from all the clubs within the county.

The highlights for D&D included the U10 Girls team of Eve Cunningham, Lucy Russell, Isabelle McHugh and Caoimhe Houlihan placing fourth in their team competition, while the U10 Boys squad of Sean Og Monaghan, Conal Crosbie, Rocco Kermode and Alex Talreja giving it their all to come sixth in the team placings.

The U12 Girls race saw Nessa Foley and Dearbhla Johnston running aggressively in a packed field of quality athletes and they'll learn so much from the experience.

U14 Girls, saw Beatrice Cunningham having a fine run when finishing sixth overall, leading home her clubmates Eleanor McMahon, Bonnie Breach and Clodagh Johnson to take the silver medals in the team category.

In the Boys U14 race, Mark Agrios featured prominently in the first half and led home Dylan Foley and Euan Kirwan and these three lads look to be getting better with every race.

The D&D Boys U16 squad of Oisin McArdle, Guillermo Monza and Kyle Roe ran well to take the bronze medals in a well contested race. This was Roe's first race over cross country and he coped well with the difficult underfoot conditions.

The U18 Girls race over 4000m saw Niamh Carroll run well to finish fifth overall, while in the Boys event Ciaran Maree ran well to finish first in this mixed age event.