With Emily collecting our numbers in the log cabin, we realised that the master’s women’s race was off in a half an hour, so quick action had to be taken. It was extremely competitive, with 100 girls crossing the finishing line within 5 minutes of each other, so averaging out at a woman every 3 seconds.

Both Lucy (3rd in her age category) and Helen finished in the top 10 overall, and we got a decent display from all of our women. Judith narrowly missed out on an age category medal by less than 10 seconds. The best news was that we came away with team silver with Lucy, Helen, Aideen & Sandra scoring. Helen White helped Dublin to a silver medal.

The team contest was won comfortably by a North Belfast Harriers side that are easily capable of medalling at senior level, indeed they were national senior champions in 2007 albeit with a stronger team on that occasion. They had all team members running in the top twenty five.

While the intermediates was a race for younger (and in some cases faster) girls, it was understandably not as competitive or packed as the masters race that preceded it. Both races were held on the same length of course. The team comprised mainly of October’s Dublin novice winning team, with welcome additions Stephanie and beginner Aoife Lynch. We came away with team bronze medals and were led home by a brilliant Louise. Well done girls.

The master’s men’s field was equally as competitive and condensed as the master’s women’s race was, as the 200 runners completed the course within 9 minutes of each other. It was won by a terrific Peter Matthews who despite being well ahead kept huffing and puffing as he wanted a good workout ahead of the National Inter Clubs XC on Sunday week. There was no joy for us here, but it was great to have a men’s team running in the national master’s; something that we usually don’t get. Well done to Ed, Paul Mitchell, Willers, Seán and Killian for giving up their Sunday and travelling down with us.

The final race of the day was the intermediate men. Their was no joy here either for our men, however it was still a beneficial race that will serve the men’s team well for the Inter Clubs XC on Sunday week. It was won by DSD’s Breandán O Neill. Breandán is on scholarship at DCU, and was bronze medallist in last week’s intervarsities indoors 3000m in 8:34.05. The team title was won by City of Derry, who are also the current National Novice and National Half Marathon champions, and for the record they have Ireland’s current fastest man too in Jason Smyth.

Kilmacow, Sunday February 14th – Distance runners are such a romantic race of people that (for some of them anyway) their ideal way of spending Valentine’s day involves a trip to south Kilkenny to run in the Leinster senior cross country, well away from where their partners can nag them. And how worthwhile a trip it was, as it turned out to be one of the most successful days in the club’s history. We passed through a deserted Ballyhale on the way down, as most of the parish would have been in Thurles to see their hurlers beat Newtownshandrum in the club semi finals. Kilmacow is only 4m from Waterford and is home to agriculturally some of the best land I’ve seen in a while. The St Senan’s sports complex is a great example of how when a rural community pulls together they can create something marvellous. There are a soccer club, GAA club, tug of war and athletics club all set up at the clubhouse. They have fantastic GAA and soccer pitches, a long jump straight, an improvised running track and miles of stoned or grassy trails through a forest or along the banks of a tributary of the Suir. All off little if any public funding I would imagine.

We were greeted with gorgeous sunshine and a very firm course that didn’t cut up anywhere despite the amount of kiddies races preceding that of the adults. The course was 95 % flat across pitches and fields and there was one steep hill thrown in and a steep downhill at the opposite side of the course, both of which were no more than 10m long. Both hills were paved with shredded wood bark to prevent any slippages of the large amount of athletes that the organisers were expecting. However most of this expected crowd never showed up possibly due to a number of reasons:

1. People wanted to be fresh for the more important national intermediate & masters XC next week in Roscommon
2. A large amount of club runners showing up at the MySport Enniscorthy 10k
3. Faster athletes ran at the AAA indoor championships in Sheffield

Remember that this event was re-fixed since mid-January due to the ice & snow that crippled Ireland at the time. Athletes usually have schedules planned for up to six months in advance of an event that they’re looking to peak at, and if a race was cancelled along the way they usually would not pencil it in on the re-match. Anyway we could only deal with and dispose of the athletes that did show up. First up were our senior women who had a 90 % strength squad lining out. The race was won by Beijing 08 Olympian Pauline Curley, with Catriona only 14 seconds behind her taking individual bronze. She was followed home by Lucy, Aoife and Crona. With four athletes in the top ten, we were always destined to become Leinster senior champions for 2010; getting the nod over 40 – 50 % strength Raheny and Tullamore sides. Jean also had a magnificent run, finished only 12 seconds off Crona and a minute off the leader; and she was followed closely by Helen. It’s great that there’s so much competition for places on the team.

It is equally difficult to get on the men’s team, although we compete at a lower level than the girls (we are rated in the B category for the national cross country). At the sharp end it was a five horse race for much of the time, with local farmer and Irish international Brian Maher pulling away for victory in the closing stages. Phil had possibly his finest ever half an hour in a Sportsworld singlet, as he finished 6th and a minute behind the leading group. Paul also did magnificently to earn a place in the top ten. Mikey and Garrett completed the Sportsworld scoring. Paul Duffy had to stop to tie his shoelaces in the middle of it, and that took the sting out of his attack. However he’ll be there again next week in Roscommon. Packie also came along for the sunshine following on from his pentathlon the previous day.

Our men’s team ended up battling it out with a large Liffey Valley squad, with ourselves getting the nod by a mere four points (or one place per man). While it’s great to get a team medal, it’s ironic because both clubs would normally be battling it out for 7th or 8th positions in the Dublin senior cross country, yet now we’re the second best Leinster side (in theory anyway). It’s particularly great for Mikey and Garrett, as they never won a medal of any description in their year or two of athletics, so the day belonged to them.

In addition we had Lucy and Aoife scoring on the victorious Meath team, with Catriona and Jean contributing to Dublin’s silver. Phil and Paul scored for the winning Dublin team. Overall it was a fantastic day out in the Kilkenny countryside, and it was great to come away with a haul of medals; especially for people that rarely win them. It was nice to get a relaxed atmosphere at what is normally a very stressful and competitive race; however the national intermediates next week will be a much different kettle of fish. It was also great that we had almost full strength squads out for both races, and hopefully we’ll get more of the same next week. The cross country season will be all over in a two or three weeks. It remains to be seen if this race means anything in a national context, but all we can do for the time being is keep up the hard work.

Leinster Senior Cross Country 2010 Women
 
Place Name Club County
1 Pauline Curley Tullamore Harriers Offaly
3 Catriona Jennings Sportsworld Dublin 
5 Lucy Darcy Sportsworld Meath
6 Aoife Brady Sportsworld Meath
10 Crona Brady Sportsworld Meath
12 Jean Wilson Sportsworld Dublin 
13 Helen White Sportsworld Dublin 
 
Leinster Senior Cross Country 2010 Women – Team Result
 
Place Club Points
1 Sportsworld 24
2 Raheny Shamrocks 59
3 Tullamore Harriers 65
4 St Abban’s 91
 
Leinster Senior Cross Country 2010 Men
 
Place Name Club County
1 Brian Maher KCH Kilkenny
6 Phil Kilgannon Sportsworld Dublin 
10 Paul O Connell Sportsworld Dublin 
15 Mikey Cunningham Sportsworld Dublin 
18 Garrett Murran Sportsworld Dublin
22 Paul Duffy Sportsworld Dublin 
25 Packie Enright Sportsworld Dublin 
 
Leinster Senior Cross Country 2010 Men – Teams
 
Place Club Points
1 Raheny Shamrocks 23
2 Sportsworld 49
3 Liffey Valley  53
4 Tullamore Harriers 100

Euro2009

Saturday 13th December 2009 had finally arrived. Irish running enthusiasts had the chance to have the great spectacle of the European Cross Country Championships in our own back yard -the Santry demesne, rather than on TV in our sitting rooms. The course that was graced with Merrick, Cunningham, Duffy et al. at the national inter-clubs only a few months ago, now hosted the cream of Europe’s running talent fighting it out for the big prize.

A huge crowd turned out to watch the days events; consisting of Ladies and Mens Junior, U-23 and Senior races. The young Irish teams gave a great account of themselves, representing their country with great distinction. The Senior Ladies was dominated form start to finish by the relentless Liz Yelling. In a feat of great courage and confidence Liz blew the rest of the field away with an awesome display of front running. She powered around the course with mechanical efficiancy, her arms driving her along like pistons while the rest of the field struggled through the heavy mud.

The strongly fancied Portugese athletes fought it out for the remaining places, but claimed the team prize as expected. The Irish challenge did not materialise as hoped. Fionnula Britton was first home with a highly creditable tenth place and return to form after a frustrating couple of years. Mary Cullen had high hopes here but could not find the big performance when she needed it the most. She started off towards the front before falling back after half way and looked to be struggling. Mary dug deep though and showed to work her way back up the field, eventually finish in twelfth place. She will be glad to put 2009 behind her – a year in which she faced great adversity following her brilliant bronze in the European Indoors in March. Class though… is permanent. Deirdre Byrne put in a brave display, looking at one point the strongest of the trio after closing in on her team mates and puttig the team in a strong medal position. It was tragically not to be though as Deirdre fell away on the last lap. It appeared that she hit the wall, but could well have picked up an injury, such was the diminished pace of her final kilometre. Deirdre is a calibre athlete though who will no doubt have a great track season come the summer.

The men’s race was expected to be a rerun of the epic duel of last year between the Ukranian legend and nine time winner of this title Sergei Lebed and Mo Farah, Britain’s main man in long distance who pushed Lebed all the way last year. The men tore off like the wild horses pulling the chariots of fire around the colesseum. It was quite something to witness these thoroughbreads at such close quarters. It was clear from early on that Lebed was not going to complete a decade of dominance. Farah and the Spaniard Bezabeh (born in Africa) quickly escaped and made a two horse race of it. The two went stride for stride before the Spaniard turned the screw around half way. Farah dropped off but then fought his way admirably back onto the shoulder of the Spaniard. However, as is often the case with such a titanic effort Farah had shot his bolt and could not match his opponent in the finishing straight. Farah collapsed at the end, needing medical attention such was the heart and soul he put into the race.

The Irish men overall flattered to deceive. The performance of the day came form the Dublin-based Mark Kenneally, who overshadowed his more celebrated US-based team mates to finish a fantastic eighth. Mark went out hard and held his own all the way, showing great stamina and strength inachieving a career high. Fagan was next in in 26th, a disappointment given his promising display in the past two years. Cragg was 40th, not appearing to relish the difficult conditions. Many anoraks waxed lyrical about their preparation for the race, flying into Dublin at the last minute to avoid the after effects of ‘coming down’ from altitude. It would appear the finer details of race preparation can be over analysed and simply having a few days of R&R is the way the way to go. Andrew Ledwith finished along with Cragg. The remaining athletes, both based in Dublin, Sean Connelly and Mick Clohessy both ran good steady races. This will have been a good learning experience for both men who have each had superb years and were very deserving of their places on the team.

Report By
Phil Kilgannon

It was a cold but at least dry day when Michael, Emily & Packie collected me in Swords for the long drive up north to Coleraine for this year’s National Novice XC. The last race of the year promised to be run in more favourable conditions than the Dublin Intermediate the previous week and hopefully Clann Lir would be absent from the course today.

We got up to Coleraine in plenty of time and managed to find a pool table in the Students Union, which kept us occupied for a while. Paul Duffy continued his fine run of form on the pool table and when he got bored beating everyone, Packie took a turn giving us all a pool lesson.

The team assembled, we made our way to the course to catch young Sean Wall (Waller) in action in the Under 19′s race. Waller had a great race and worked his way through a very competitive field. It was a tough race for him aswell as the U19′s had to run 6k, same as the novice.

Next up was the girls (Stephanie, Lorna, Ruth, Susan and Helen) over 3k. Lorna Quinn (19th) came through very strongly and continued to show her fine running form. Ruth(27th) and Stephanie(28th) were next in, only a hare’s fart seperating them. Next up was Susan (45th) with Helen(56th) the final scorer. No medals today with fifth spot team place but Rathfarnam were seventh, so every silver cloud and all that…

Next up was the lads. There had been some controversy surrounding the start of a lot of the junior races and our own start wasn’t the most clinical. No chutes and little warning but that’s another day’s argument. 140 novice men went off like the hammers of hell straight into a bottleneck. If you don’t know cross-country, this is what it’s all about. Pushing and jostling are part of the game. Ahead of me I could see Liam and Colm in the middle of the melée and further ahead Michael and Paul.

When one lad got pushed off the course and was running outside the barrier, he decided to leap it, straight into Michael Cunningham’s path. Michael informed me later he nearly tripped the guy up when his spikes connected with him. It’s the quiet ones you watch out for…

The race was a bit crazy for the first lap as you fought for space around the wood at the back and people went through any space they could find. Leading the charge home for the club was Paul Duffy (77th), followed by Michael (81st), myself (93rd), Packie (99th – who fought the whole way, fair dues to ya Pack!), Colm (108th) and Liam (122nd).

The business end of things done there was only one thing on all our minds – refreshments. They actually had showers at this race ( and the water was hot!!) so the drive home wasn’t the usual mud-caked ordeal. Although there was an ordeal of other sorts when the hunger pangs hit half way between Coleraine and Newry. I was starting to know what they felt like in that movie Alive, when we found Kinder eggs in Michael’s car which he (wisely) decided to share. After a well-earned meal in the Carrickdale, we were on our way. Well done all. Next up Leinster Senior.

For results click here and racepix365 gallery here.

Report by
Ronan Merrick

Onto the action, and 24 competitors toed the line for the girls race (4k), won by the brilliant Raheny based Pole Patrycia Wlodarczyk. Our own girls didn’t disappoint either, with Helen battling through the thick mud and fog for a podium finish; and Stephanie finishing a magnificent 4th.

For the men’s race, the sluice gate was opened to allow a greater volume of water to enter the stream (which before that was below knee height). The 6k race of 130 men was won by one of Meath’s finest runners Rory McDonnell. Performance of the day went to Paul O Connell, who had got back from the canaries well after midnight and a few hours before the starting gun. Completing four races in four days (including a half marathon) during his ‘holiday’ in Lanzarote was not enough to deter Paul from a top 6 finish.

Having run the Dublin marathon less than five weeks previously, Eoin ran his first cross country in a little over a year and did very well indeed. Elsewhere in the field, Packie, Billy and Brian put in some decent performances ahead of next week’s national novice.

For all racepix365 photos click here but make sure you view this photo!

Womens 4km
1 Patrycia Wlodarczyk 19:33
3 Helen White 20:36
4 Stephanie Bergin 21:03

Mens 6km
1 Rory McDonnell 23:14
6 Paul O’Connell 24:40
17 Packie Enright 26:05
26 Billy Tyrell 27:01
72 Brian Conway 30:45
77 Eoin O’Brien 31:34

Report By
Packie Enright

Awaking to the, now, all too familiar sound of rain drumming against the window I was relieved not to hear water flowing around my bed. Wrapping the duvet tightly about me I pondered what was in store and secretly hoped that today’s Dublin Intermediate Cross Country Championships would be called off. Alas, it takes more then a flood of biblical proportions to stop a Dublin Athletics Board Cross Country Race.

Arriving with Mike Cunningham at Tymon shortly after 1pm, it didn’t bode well to find the Children of Lir resting on a lake formed at a bend in the course.

Paul Duffy and Ronan Merrick trotted up to tell us that we had 10mins before the mens race so with an air of controlled panic we made a bit of a dash down to the start. The great advantage of being late is you don’t need to bother about warming up and you don’t have to keep going to the toilet. One by one the rest of the mens team, Gareth Murran, Trevor McSweeney and Colm Kennedy arrived – with minutes to spare.

Unfortunately, due to our lateness, we missed the ladies race. I did bump in to Ciara, Helen and Louise, and I know that Ruth had another very strong run – well done to all on what must have been ‘Character Building’! In fact Ciara told me that she felt like she had just completed an Iron Man competition.

And so to the mens race… We are assembled ready to go when, is it a bird, is it plane – no, it’s Mark Dunne doing the 100m dash to the start line. Harry’s anxious to get this one started – there’s no messing about ‘toe behind the line’ this time – everyone just wants to get this over so we can go home. BANG and there off!

The underfoot conditions were the worst I’ve experienced over the two years of Cross Country I have raced. The opportunities to run were limited to a few short sections on the higher section of the course – but for the most part it was trudging through deep muck or standing water – up to 25cm in places.

Paul Duffy tore off with the leaders followed by Mike, Trevor, Ronan, Garret and Mark. Colm and I fought a rear-guard action – objective: Try not to be last. After a week of warm-weather, high altitude training in Lanzarote great things were promised by our elite – on reflection, perhaps a bog snorkelling trip to Yorkshire would have been more beneficial?

After the first lap I lost sight of our elite runners and settled down to run with Colm, exchanging the lead between us as the course rose and fell. We worked well together for the first two laps but then I lost contact with him and ran on my own. Passing through half way I could see Garret dropping back through the field and tried to give chase. By that stage I had developed a pretty bad stitch in the lower abdomen and was also dropping back, and was never within 30m of him.

A steady stream of runners passed me on the 3rd and 4th laps and I had nothing in the tank to stay with them. In the last 500m a Rathfarnham runner went by and I used him to take me home – just about holding off the following pack and sneaking by him on the line as an added bonus. Colm followed a couple of seconds later.

Top of the Sportsworld pile was Mike, who secretly loves running in slop, followed by an impressive Trevor in his Cross-Country debut. For full results check the Dublin Athletics Board Website – in about a month.

Thanks to Sportworld faithful for their supporter – the conditions may have been harder on you then on us. The cheers were certainly appreciated if not acknowledged.

For racepix395 photos click here.

Report By
Paul Mitchell

First up was the Senior ladies 8km event where Sportsworld had two representatives, Lucy D’arcy and Crona Brady. With both the Junior and Senior races acting as a trial for the forthcoming European cross country championships in Santry, the fields assembled included Ireland’s best. Lucy ran a perfectly even paced race to take 22nd position in a time of 31.12. Lucy has clearly recovered from her marathon exploits and her fine run in the Masters International last weekend in Birmingham. Crona, in her debut national senior cross country race, continued her fantastic form this season running strongly throughout finishing just behind Lucy in 27th place (31.27). Along with Sarah Treacy (5th) and Fiona Mahon (12th), both Lucy and Crona won silver team medals with the Meath team that finished behind Dublin. Well done girls.

Also a big thanks to Packie and Myles for their support and encouragement on the day.

Photos from Racepix365 available here.

Report By
Aoife Brady

The second Women’s Meet and Train Cross Country race of the season was held on Sunday, November 22 at Tymon Park. Although, thankfully, the rain held off for the race, the wind certainly didn’t and that combined with the effects of a week of torrential downpour didn’t make for great running conditions – ladies don’t forget to wash your spikes after this one!

Despite the wind and mud there was a great showing and the race was very well organized. Kudos to all the Sportsworld stewards and supporters who cheered and steered everyone through the course – and also to those who provided much appreciated refreshments afterwards!

It was a great day for Sportsworld with 4 finishers in the top 5. Edel Madigan scored another first place leading the field from very early on. Ruth Kelly came in second – an outstanding performance in her first ever cross country race. Louise Nolan followed in third and Mairead O’Callaghan in fifth. Congratulations to all who finished the race and looking forward to the next race of the series in January!

Report By
Mairead O’Callaghan

Wow, the 2nd international in 6 days!

Saturday morning 9:30am, cold, wet (but not raining at the moment) & not too windy, not a bad 1st impression of the day ahead, oh but were we in for a treat. The coach arrived to bring us off to Perry Park, a short 30mins from the hotel, nobody was in a hurry to get off the bus when we arrived, way too cold, and the races weren’t starting until 12pm, sure what’s the rush.

The time whizzed by, a few team photos and a few sloshy warm-up laps later and it was time for the off. Mean-while the wind had rapidly picked up & it got a lot colder, time to get the trackies off, 6 tough kms ahead of us, no going back now. Cold but dry we were on the start line, gun goes off and so do we, head-long into the wind, round 1 corner, round another and up along the trees, if your feet weren’t wet before the race they sure were now, along the water-logged tree-lined stretch but in our favour the strong wind was behind us at this point (but that didn’t last long), up a short, sharp, muddy hill to head off around the lake on a carpet of leaves, nice (on the 1st lap anyway), through another bit of muck, up another longer hill, this time into the wind, across the top and a slippy downhill followed by a sharp right hand bend, along some more trees followed by a decent downhill stretch only to be hit with a savage uphill climb into the wind again. This marked the end of the 1st lap, this was also the finish line at the end of our 3rd lap.

The 2nd and 3rd laps were even worse as we had driving rain and worsening underfoot conditions to contend with as well as the wind but we survived to tell the tail. All I can say is that we were lucky to be the 1st race out and not the last.

The club representatives were:
Carol Lynch:-masters 60 who finished with team silver.
Helen White:-masters 40, who finished in a fantastic 34th place and another team silver.
Lucy D’Arcy:-masters 40, who also finished high up the field in17th place and shared team silver with Helen.

Thank you to Paddy Lynch who travelled with Carol and gave us great support, thanks a mill also to every-one for their good luck wishes before the trip and congratulations after, your support is so important and gives all of us a great lift, whether it via text message or at the event, keep it up club-mates, thank you.

Report By
Lucy D’Arcy