Last weekend was a big day for the club as Aoife Brady stuck on the green jersey, sprinted down the wing, cut in and scored the winning goal for Ireland against France! What?…. oh sorry. …wrong weekend. Actually as it transpires it was something even bigger again, all Aoife’s hard work and commitment was rewarded with her selection to represent Ireland at an International Cross Country meet in Belgium last weekend. And if there is one thing the Belgians like more then good chocolate, it’s a good beer…..and after that it’s a good cross country race. The Irish aren’t ones to disappoint and so last weekend they got their wish as the international Lotto CrossCup descended on the multiplicity of Mol, near Antwerp in Northern Belgium. It’s a country with a rich history and like our very good selves back in the 9th century Mol had to deal with the Vikings coming to town. Feeling at home with such a close bond a team of 28 junior and senior Irish athletes flew in last Friday to take on the best of them. The area is in Belgium’s lowlands and surrounded by the famous “Molse Meren” (Lakes of Mol), a series of natural sand lakes with white sandy beaches, so Aoife and the team had to master new terrain on the tough sandy course. So after testing the course, building a few sand castles and burying the sleeping coach, the real business of racing began on Sunday the 8th. Reports have indicated that the field went off hard for the women’s race, something to be expected at this level but not for fainting hearted in a 6400m race. The locals are still to this day all [...]
Leinster Intermediate Cross Country 2009
Sunday 8th November saw the Leinster Intermediate Cross Country hosted by Tullamore Harriers in Tullamore, County Offaly. Sportsworld were represented in the men’s race. Some of us were led to believe that we were running an 8km race, but we were taken back when we reached the field to be informed it was 10km made up of 5 laps. Hoping that underfoot conditions might be ok, we weren’t long finding out that the course was flooded in one corner and the rest was the near resemblance of a field vacated after the national ploughing championships with 3 hills to tackle 5 times thrown in to make it more enjoyable. The race took off at a steady pace led by eventual winner Tom Hogan of Slaney Olympic. Sportsworld were led out by the excellent Micheal Cunningham, Paul Duffy and Ronan Merrick, followed closely by Mark Dunne, Paul Mitchell and Liam Mc Fadden. Lap one was the greatest test for all, seeing was it safer to take a 30 metre detour to avoid the small lake in the bottom corner of the course or dive straight in and hope to make it out the other side with spikes still on. Gladly we all took the dive and made it trough. After that it was a case of settling in and trying to make moves on the leader board. Sportsworld were unlucky not to come away with a team bronze medal for all their hard effort eventually finishing 4th placed team. Overall Results1 Tom Hogan 34.20 (Slaney Olympic)18 Michael Cunningham 38.1924 Paul Duffy 38.5027 Ronan Merrick 39.1030 Paul Mitchell 40.1532 Mark Dunne 40.3340 Liam Mc Fadden 42.21 Report byLiam Mc Fadden recovering from ‘trench foot’ has supplied this [...]
Leinster Novice Cross Country
Adamstown county Wexford was the location for this years Leinster Novice on October 25th. A flat dry course made the job ahead look easy but a strong head wind meant it was slower going than in Dublin two weeks earlier. Some great individual performances. Paul Duffy coming in 18th getting the first cross country mens medal of the season on the Dublin team. Barbara Coming in with ten minutes to spare to complete the women’s team and Helen finishing an incredible 4th after a sprint finish. Some great support around the course from the Brady’s, runners and Emily With the marathon over and the senior and intermediates coming up in the next few weeks, lets hope we can get some experienced cross country runners back in the fold. The full results are below Novice Women (Club 5th) 17 Mairead O Callaghan Sportsworld Dublin 11.5918 Susan McDonnell Sportsworld Dublin 12.0020 Louise Nolan Sportsworld Dublin 12.0760 Barbara McEntyre Sportsworld Dublin 14.51 Novice Men (Club 7th) 18 Paul Duffy Sportsworld Dublin 21.0826 Michael Cunningham Sportsworld Dublin 21.3540 Garrett Murran Sportsworld Dublin 22.1144 Paul Mitchel Sportsworld Dublin 22.2352 Colm Kennedy Sportsworld Dublin 22.52 Masters Women (Club 1st) 4 Helen White W2 Sportsworld Dublin 11.2312 Sandra Armstrong W1 Sportsworld Dublin 12.0320 Breda Brown W3 Sportsworld Dublin 12.43 Report ByGareth Murran
Dublin Senior & Junior Cross Country
County Cross Country Championships 1/11/09While most of us were recovering from Trick or Treating our Junior and Senior Men and Women were preparing for the County Championships. To start of the morning most of us woke to the sound of none stop rain and gusts of wind which created a lovely mud bath and tough running conditions in St Annes Park Raheny. First off we had Junior Men. Sean ran a very steady race to finish in 23rd Place overall in a time of 23.59. Well Done Sean. Next we had the Senior Women First of all I would like to welcome a new member to the club Caitriona Jennings and to welcome her on the Senior Women Team. Caitriona led the girls team for most of the race. On the last lap all the girls ran together, showing great team spirit. At 600m to go Aoife made a break to catch our leading girl Caitriona, jean in turn followed. Our girls finished first by Aoife Brady in 8th place time of 24.13, Jean Wilson (showing great fitness after time off) in 10th place time of 24.16, Catriona in 11th place time of 24.21, Lucy Darcy (with a great run after the marathon last week) in 12th place time of 24.22, Crona Brady (still showing huge improvement) 14th place time 24.29 and Stephanie Bergin (in one of her first senior races) 22nd place time 26.32. For the first time in many many years the girls team brought gold medals home for the club in the county championship. Well Done Girls, you done us proud. To finish of the day the Senior Men As always this is a very very competitive race and our lads did [...]
Gerry Farnan 2009 Compilation Video
An interesting Gerry Farnan 2009 compilation video featuring an interview with Eamonn Coghlan who gives a little insight into Gerry Farnan and the naming of the “Munich Lap”.