Cross Country gold for Kay Byrne at World Masters

Kay Byrne stormed to a World Masters gold on Monday morning.

The Finn Valley AC stalwart eased to gold in the 8km cross country, held as part of the World Masters Athletics Indoor Championships.

Byrne belied a recent injury, which hampered her preparation, to win in 36 minutes and 46 seconds in Toruń. The determined and dogged Byrne wasn't going to be caught in this one.

The closest W60 athlete was Mary Swan of the United States, who crossed the line in 37:08.

Byrne's Irish colleague Pauline Moran took the W65 gold.

Brett McGinty wants a step into title territory

The St Johnston man fights on Jason Quigley's undercard on Saturday night - and says the just-vacated BUI Celtic super-welterweight title could be his next target

The day got even better with Byrne and Ireland landing the team golds.

Byrne competed at the World Cross Country Championships in 1984 and 1994 and was a key part of the dominant Finn Valley AC senior women's side in the 1990s and 2000s, the team finishing sixth in Europe twice.

The Ballybofey woman had finished fifth in the M60 3000m final on Sunday morning, the first day of the Championships, clocking 12:14.25 there.

Also on Monday morning, Shane Toolan of Tir Chonaill AC finished fifth in his heat of the 60m sprint. Toolan finished in 9.16 seconds.

While it wasn't enough to qualify for one of the semi-finals, Toolan will be pleased with the outing having nursed an injury of late and has the 200m to look forward to later in the week.

Milford native Brian Boyce, who runs for An Riocht AC in Kerry, will line up in the 400m semi-finals on Monday evening.

Boyce came through Sunday's heat in a season's best of 54.61 seconds.

Finn Valley AC's Sinead McConnell will be the next of the Finn Valley AC contingent in action with the Castlefin woman toeing the line in the 3k race walk.