Kelly’s heroics dull the pain

THE expression on his face as he powered his way up the home straight said it all as Drogheda athlete, Keith Kelly, buried 10 years of frustration at Santry Park yesterday by claiming the National senior cross-country title for the first time at the age of 31.

He was taking part in the race for the first time some 10 years after he won the American national collegiate cross-country title — a feat equalled by very few Irish athletes.

Since then he has been to hell and back as he notched up no fewer than nine stress fractures — one serious stress fracture to his back — and underwent surgery on both knees last year in a bid to sort out persistent problems.