THE NED Buggy Senior cross-country championships were held on Sunday last in Piercestown and, on a bitterly cold, yet dry, afternoon, both Fiona Kehoe (Kilmore A.C.) and Tom Hogan (Slaney Olympic) retained their respective titles in great style.

First off at 2 p.m. were the ladies who raced over 5 km., which firstly involved two small laps of the main field, with the athletes then embarking on a further two laps around the two fields on George O'Connor's land.

Fiona made her intentions clear from early on and she soon had a good gap on the pursuing Ann Sullivan (D.M.P.) and Jackie Carty (Kilmore A.C.). This pair in turn were clear of Ciara Wilson (D.M.P).

Over the course of the race, Fiona stretched away to record an emphatic win, but there was a good battle going on behind for the silver medal. Ann kicked on in the final mile, eventually coming home a clear second.

In the team competition, Kilmore A.C. retained the crown, the third scorer being Helen Doyle, with the south Wexford team finishing on nine points, ahead of D.M.P. on 12 points (Mary Sinnott rounded out the scoring trio in sixth). Slaney Olympic won bronze.

Full results: 1, Fiona Kehoe (Kilmore), 20.38; 2, Ann Sullivan (D.M.P.), 21.19; 3, Jackie Carty (Kilmore), 21.40; 4, Ciara Wilson (D.M.P.), 23.15; 5, Helen Doyle (Kilmore), 24.25; 6, Mary Sinnott (D.M.P.), 24.45; 7, Sharon Kehoe (Kilmore), 25.19; 8, Deirdre Kavanagh (Slaney Olympic), 31.05; 9, Louise Nolan (Slaney Olympic), 31.10; 10, Gretta Roberts-Tyrrell (Slaney Olympic), 41.10.

Then it was onto the Senior men's race over 10km, which involved five of the big laps, and from the gun defending champion Tom Hogan dashed into the lead. From there on, the Enniscorthy athlete was never headed, and although firstly Joe Breen (S.B.R.) and then Kevin Murphy (Slaney Olympic) attempted to challenge Hogan, there was no getting to the Slaney runner and he came home a clear winner by more than a minute.

This followed on from Tom's excellent showing when fourth in the AllIreland Novice two weeks ago in Coleraine, and he will now be targetting a good run in the Leinster Senior cross-country in three weeks' time in Kilmacow, Co. Kilkenny.

It was a case of a one, two, three for Slaney Olympic, as Kevin Murphy had an excellent run to finish second (this being Kevin's best ever effort at county level, following his bronze medal in last year's race), with David Barron claiming third.

In the team competition it was a fourth win in a row in the Wexford championship for Slaney Olympic, thanks to the aforementioned trio and the other scoring threesome - Jim Stafford (sixth), Ted Flannelly (ninth) and Conall Cooper (13th).

S.B.R. claimed silver thanks to Paul Gibbons (fourth), Tommy McElwaine (seventh), Willie Rossiter (eighth), Tommy Levingston (11th), Lahcen Aouissar (12th) and Joe Breen (14th).

S.B.R. also claimed bronze, but this was a very tight affair, with both them and Slaney Olympic finishing on 127 points. With S.B.R's sixth scoring member finishing ahead of S.O's sixth man, county rules determined S.B.R. as bronze medal winners, their scorers being Myles Gibbons (17th), Raymond Byrne (19th), Jim O'Malley (20th), Eugene Doherty (21st), Aidan Doyle (24th) and Shane Whitty (26th).

Full results: 1, Tom Hogan (Slaney Olympic), 35.37; 2, Kevin Murphy (S.O.), 36.53; 3, David Barron (S.O.), 37.09; 4, Paul Gibbons (S.B.R.), 37.51; 5, Ger Clancy (D.M.P.), 38.20; 6, Jim Stafford (S.O.), 38.36; 7, Tommy McElwaine (S.B.R.), 38.52; 8, Willie Rossiter (S.B.R.), 38.59; 9, Ted Flannelly (S.O.), 39.07; 10, Ger Moloney (St. Paul's), 39.11; 11, Tommy Levingston (S.B.R.), 39.58; 12, Lahcen Aouissar (S.B.R.), 40.17; 13, Conall Cooper (S.O.), 40.30; 14, Joe Breen (S.B.R.), 40.48; 15, Pádraig Moriarty (S.O.), 40.52; 16, Mick Jordan (S.O.), 41.38; 17, Myles Gibbons (S.B.R.), 41.42; 18, Brian Murphy (S.O.), 41.53; 19, Raymond Byrne (S.B.R.), 42.25; 20, Jim O'Malley (S.B.R.), 42.30; 21, Eugene Doherty (S.B.R.), 43.05; 22, Bobby Redmond (S.O.), 43.15; 23, Kevin Walsh (Kilmore), 43.39; 24, Aidan Doyle (S.B.R.), 43.59; 25, Richard Fortune (D.M.P.), 44.00; 26, Shane Whitty (S.B.R.), 44.31; 27, Stephen Tyrell (S.O.), 45.04; 28, Ciarán Lyng (United Striders), 45.23; 29, Michael Nolan (Slaney Olympic), 45.31; 30, Emmett Malone (U.S.), 45.59; 31, Dick Boland (S.B.R.), 47.00; 32, Fergus Murphy (S.O.), 48.06; 33, Billy Kavanagh (S.O.), 48.55; 34, Ger Murphy (S.O.), 50.25; 35, Jim Kehoe (S.O.), 51.53; 36, Peter Connick (St. Paul's), 53.00; 37, Billy Harpur (S.B.R.).