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

Full results.

Also this weekend is the Adidas Frank Duffy 10 mile in the Phoenix Park. Online entry is still possible but from newspaper reports last week the event is a near sell out……6000 expected to line up! If you are not running come out and support the club as we’ll be fielding strong men’s and women’s teams and the club usually has a high turn out of runners at this event. If you are entered wear your club singlet or if you need a singlet see Emily or Mick at training this week. Also if there is some interest we may look at organising going out for a bit of food & drink on Saturday night to replenish your bodies supplies after a hard mornings racing!

The 26th October saw the annual meeting of the Leinster Novice & Master races in Avondale, Rathdrum Co. Wicklow & gave the chance for the up & coming sportsworld stars a chance to shine. The race was held in the scene grounds of Avondale house in weather of all seasons & there were some fantastic performances put in by all of sportsworld runners especially Crona Brady & Ronan Merrick.

First race of interest to sportsworld was the novice Women of Crona Brady, Stephanie, Ciara Foster, Susan McDonnell & Claire O’ Reilly. The girls ran particularly well & were unlucky to miss out on the medals by 3 points. Susan, Ciara & Stephanie were together through out most of the 3K course & worked great as a team to finish 14th, 26th & 28th overall. However Crona stole the show to claim 5th place & based on this performance it will not be long till she will be running along side her sister in future races to come.

Next up the Novice Men were given there chance to shine. The race was 3 laps of a 2km course incorporating in what can only be described as a very steep hill that seem to go on forever. This hill will give me nightmare of years to come & most who saw it were left speechless by its length & steepness. However Ronan Merrick marked his come back to form with an outstanding 11th place. Ronan went to the front of the race early on & held his place with the leaders for one lap before dropping back a few places. Michael Cunningham also ran well & marched on to claim 21st spot overall. Michael is also coming back from injury & was delighted with his placing. Other notable performances were Paul Mitchell & James Shanahan who finished 44th & 45th respectively. Sportsworld claimed 6th overall in the team competition.

The masters women was the last race of interest to sportsworld. The girls ran really well & claimed 2nd spot with 22 points overall. Rachel Morgan ran a steady race to claim 5th place not to far behind Pauline Curley who won the race for Tullamore Harriers. Helen White & Kathleen O’ Callaghan completed the team & finished 7th & 10th overall. Well done to all who ran

Race report by Paul Duffy.

National Masters and Intermediate Cross Country Championships took place in near perfect conditions in Piercestown in Wexford, with Sportsworld athletes competing in three of the four races being held.

Lucy Darcy led the women’s masters race out on the first lap, and finished in 4th. Lucy, Helen White, Kathleen O’Callaghan and Breda Brown were silver medalists in the team event, with Lucy also winning a bronze county medal.

In the intermediate women’s event, Aoife Brady had a fantastic run to finish in the top 10 in only her second race after a season injured, while Crona Brady ran strongly in her national cross-country debut.

The intermediate men’s race was over 10K, with a long punishing hill to climb at the end of each of the six laps. In a field crowded with former prizewinners at novice and international junior level, it was telling that this hill progressively thinned out the pack on each circuit of the course. Despite this, Phil Kilgannon advanced through the field on every lap to finish with a county gold for Dublin. There were also great runs from Paul O’Connell, Ronan Merrick, Ed McEntee, Michael Cunningham, Martin Keenan, Paul Duffy and Will Greensmyth.

Although the races were short, it was a very chalenging course, with steep descents and hills on evert lap. However, as usual there were medals aplenty for the girls: The Novice team of Louise Nolan, Ciara Foster, Kim Masuda and Anne Delaney won bronze in the team event, and Louise and Ciara also got bronze medals as members of the Dublin county team.

Lucy Darcy, Helen White, Sandra Armstrong and Breda Browne were 2nd placed team in the Master’s event, with Lucy running a very strong race to take second overall.
Eanna Cunanne came 3rd in the Novice Mens Event and Ronan merrick and Eanna also got Bronze Medals for the Dublin County Team.