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| Alan McCormack, Stephen Scullion |
In years past, the Dublin Senior Cross-Country was one of the year’s highlights. Numbers may be down these days but winning the county title still means a huge amount, as it did for John Coghlan a year ago and Alan McCormack in Santry last Sunday.
Four years ago, McCormack won the national intercounty title. Since then he has struggled with an assortment of problems caused by over-training, but never gave up hope.
Already strong in tough conditions, McCormack ran a smart race. He bided his time when Belfast athlete Stephen Scullion, wearing Clonliffe colours, made the early pace on the strength-sapping and slippery course. When Scullion faded, McCormack, along with defending champion John Coghlan and John Travers of Donore put on the pressure.
With a lap to go, McCormack was out on his own. Coghlan had taken a tumble but recovered to pull back Scullion and finish second. A remarkable fourth was hard man Sergiu Ciobanu, helping Clonliffe to team gold just six days after a testing day out at the Dublin Marathon.
McCormack, who is coached by Jerry Kiernan, is cautious about the future. “I’m taking it day by day but I hope to turn out in the National Intercounties later this month in Ratoath.”
The women’s race turned into a three-way battle between Raheny pair Elish Kelly and Fiona Roche and the veteran Barbara Cleary, who only started competing seriously about a year ago and has made remarkable progress since joining Donore Harriers a few months ago.
In the end, Kelly had the edge, with Roche second, while Cleary in third place was leading Donore to team victory.
A clear winner of the men’s junior race was Ian Guiden of Clonliffe, while DSD’s Clare McCarthy, Sarah Fitzpatrick and Sarah Miles were the top three in the junior women’s race.
At the Cork Senior Championships in Carrignavar, Leevale dominated. Mark Hanrahan won the men’s race from international triathlete and clubmate Bryan Keane, while Lizzie Lee beat Clare Gibbons-McCarthy of St Finbarr’s for the women’s title. Winning in Limerick were Colm Turner of Limerick AC and Bilboa’s Rosemary Ryan.
Peter Matthews of DSD faces a tough day out at Saturday’s Irish Masters Cross-Country International in Belfast, where he goes for a hat trick of wins.
Matthews faces stiff competition not just from the English, Scots, and Welsh but also from current Irish masters’ cross-country champion, Ciaran Doherty, while home advantage could favour Northern Irish pair Stephen Duncan and David Morwood. At the recent NI trial race, Duncan outsprinted Morwood to beat him by a second.
Other medal contenders include Pauric McKinney of Inishowen, winner of the M45 class in the Dublin Marathon; Galway’s Martin McEvilly in the M60 race and former Olympian Jim McNamara of Donore in the M70 race.
Leevale’s Carmel Parnell is favourite to retain her W55 title and move closer to Karen Marshall’s record number of victories in this event. Former winner Niamh O’Sullivan of Riocht on her W50 debut will battle it out with Scotland’s Fiona Matheson, who is the defending champion.
Donore’s Barbara Cleary makes her masters debut in the W35 race, while Evelyn McNelis W60 is another strong medal contender.
Shona Keane of Sportsworld outsprinted her clubmate Caroline Conway for victory in the opening round of the Women’s Meet and Train Winter Series over a tough two-mile course in Dunboyne. Only six days earlier, Keane had finished 15th Irish woman in the Dublin Marathon with a time of 3 hrs 4 mins. Among the clubs represented in this league for members of Meet and Train and Fit for life groups were Sportsworld, Fingallians, Donore, Raheny, Clonliffe, Crusaders, Tallaght, Blackrock, Celbridge, and host club Dunboyne. Next round Swords Sunday December 2.
Earlier this summer, the great Irish writer Con Houlihan died. His friend Frank Greally, editor of the Irish Runner, wanted to celebrate his friend’s life and out of that came Sunday’s Remembrance Run – a 5km in Dublin’s Phoenix Park (11.0) in celebration of all our loved ones.
“The month of November is a time of remembrance for everyone at year’s end – an ideal time to remember family or friends passed and present, and to celebrate our own gift of days,” says Greally.
Among those entered are Irish hockey international Nikki Symmons, Irish cricket international Kevin O’Brien and broadcaster Donncha O Dulaing with his son, Donncha. Late entries will be taken on the day near the Furze Road.
At last- Parkun comes to Ireland! Malahide is the venue on Saturday (9.30am) for the much-anticipated first Parkrun 5km in the Republic – a free weekly timed 5km for all standards. To take part, all you have to do is register online in advance and print out the barcode you receive by return. More Irish venues are promised soon; see www.parkrun.ie.
Irish runners who missed out on the New York Marathon will get the chance to run the distance in the Phoenix Park, Dublin later this month.
The Dublin Marathon is inviting the 500 Irish athletes who had travelled to New York for the race to run their 26.2 miles around the Phoenix Park. They will race in their New York vests and get New York medals when they finish.
Reigning European cross-country champion Fionnuala Britton of Kilcoole leads a strong Irish women’s team at Sunday’s Burgos Cross-Country International in Spain. Also selected for the women’s team are Ava Hutchinson of DSD in her first race since the London Olympics marathon, and Scotland-based Sarah McCormack. They take on a strong field led by Linet Masai of Kenya, runner-up up at the last three World Cross-Country Championships.
West Waterford’s David McCarthy, Michael Mulhare of Portlaoise, Annadale’s Eddie McGinley and Andrew Agnew Abbey AC compete in the men’s race, while Clonmel’s Sean Tobin runs in the junior men’s event.
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