Fionnuala Fourth

Fionnuala Britton put up a brave fight in the women’s race at  the European Cross-Country in Belgrade but in the end, had to settle for fourth place.

Winner of the race was Sophie Duarte of France, who pulled away about halfway through the 8km race and was never troubled after that. In the battle for second, Britain’s Gemma Steele  finished second after a dogged battle with Ana Dulce Felix of Portugal, who was finishing in the top three for a third year.

Behind Britton in fifth place was Karolina Bjerkeli Gorvald of Norway, a former junior winner at this event. She had led the race for the first eight minutes or so, but was soon reeled in by a chasing pack of seven. Ethiopian Almench Belete  who runs for Belgium was in the top three early on but faded to finish sixth. Great Britain was the emphatic winner of the team medals, beating France, with Ireland sixth – Sarah Treacy was 31st, Ciara Durkan 36th, Sarah Mulligan 44th, Anne Marie Larkin 49th and Maria McCambridge 55th.

In the men’s race, Michael Mulhare  ran a smart and steady race to finish 15th place, less than a minute behind the winner. Just five second behind Mulhare was his training partner David McCarthy  18th. Paul Pollock finished 26th and  Dan Mulhare 31st made up the scoring four, with 22 seconds only separating them. Mick Clohisey finished 56th and Stephen Scullion 63rd. Performance of the day came from Britain’s Andy Vernon, who just outsprinted former junior winner Jeroen d’Hoedt of the Netherlands for the bronze medal – and also for the honour of finishing first true European.

Taking gold was the Ethiopian Alemayhu Bezabeh, who runs for Spain and returned  from a drugs suspension earlier this year, while second was the Kenyan Paul Kipkiskei Meboi, running as Polat Kemboi Arikan  and wearing a Turkish vest. Spain  was first team; Ireland finished a creditable  sixth.

In the junior women’s race, Britain’s  Emilia Gorecka took her second title in 13 mins 6 secs, beating Sofia Ennaoui of Poland, Best of the Irish was  Siofra Cleirigh Butter 37th in 14 mins 8 secs. Amy Donoghue was 58th, Meghan Ryan 69th, Isabelle Odlum 78th, Clare McCarthy 98th and Sarah Fitzpatrick 100th. Britain was first team; Ireland finished 13th.

Kenyan athlete Stanley Kiprotich Mukche running  as Ali Kaya  for Turkey won the men’s junior race in 17 mins 49 secs, closely followed by another Kenyan, this time Isaac Kimeli, who wears a Belgian vest. Sean Tobin was an excellent 9th in 18.19, followed by Andrew Coscoran 40th, Aaron Hanlon 47th, Ruairi Finnegan 61st, Kevin Mulcaire 85th, and Con Doherty 95th France was first team; Ireland finished 9th.

Belgium’s Pieter-Jan Hannes won the men’s U23 race  from Mitko Tsenov of Bulgaria. Paul Robinson for Ireland was 9th, John Travers 32nd, Kevin Dooney 38th, Shane Quinn 41st, Jake Byrne 60th, Ryan McDrmot 71st. Britain was first team with the Irish fourth.

Women – 

Senior:  1 Sophie Duarte (Fra) 26:34; 2 Gemma Steel (GBR) 26:39; 3 Dulce Félix (Por) 26:41; 4 Fionnuala Britton (Irl) 26:45 . Other Irish –  31 Sarah Treacy 28.02; 36 Ciara Durkan 28.10; 44 Sarah Mulligan 28.25; 49  Anne Marie Larkin 28.45; 55 Maria McCambridge 29.02.  Teams – 1 Great Britain 35, 2 France 54, 3 Spain 61… 6 Ireland 115.

U23: 1 Sifan Hassan (Ned) 19.40, 2 Amela Terzic (Srb) 19.46, 3 Charlotte Purdue (GBR) 19.49, 4 Kate Avery (GBR) 19.56, 5 Lily Partridge (GBR) 20.10.  Teams – 1 Great Britain  19, 2 Russia 54, 3 Netherlands 70. No Irish

Junior: 1 Emilia Gorecka (GBR) 13:06; 2 Sofia Ennaoui (Pol) 13:16; 3 Marusa Mismas (Slo) 13:27. Irish – 37 Siofra Cleirigh-Buttner 14.08; 58 Amy O’Donoghue 14.32; 69 Meghan Ryan  14.41; 78 Isabelle Odlum 14.48; 98 Claire McCarthy 15.11; 100 Sarah Fitzpatrick 15.18.  Teams – 1 Great Britain 24, 2 Sweden 75, 3 Germany 95….13 Ireland 242.

Men –
Senior: 1 Alemayehu Bezabeh (Esp) 29:11; 2 Polat Kemboi Arikan (Tur) 29:32; 3 Andy Vernon (GBR) 29:35 . Irish – 15 Michael Mulhare 30.07; 18 David McCarthy 30.12; 26 Paul Pollock 30.22; 31 Dan Mulhare 30.29; 56 Mick Clohisey 31.23; 63 Steve Scullion 31.40. Teams – 1 Spain 31, 2 Belgium 49, 3 Great Britain 60…..6 Ireland 90.

U23: 1 Pieter-Jan Hannes (Bel) 24:02 ; 2 Mitko Tsenov (Bul) 24:07; 3 Nemanja Cerovac (Srb) 24:08. Irish: 9 Paul Robinson 24.22; 32 John Travers 24.52; 38 Kevin Dooney  24.57; 41 Shane Quinn 25.03; 60 Jake Byrne 25.29; 71 Ryan McDermot 25.55.  Teams – 1 Great Britain 40, 1 Ukraine 72, 3 France 78, 4 Ireland 120.
Junior: 1 Ali Kaya (Tur) 17:49; 2 Isaac Kimeli (Bel) 17:51; 3 Mikhail Strelkov (Rus) 18:05. Irish – 9 Sean Tobin 18.18; 40 Andrew Coscoran 18.55; 47 Aaron Hanlon  19.02; 61 Ruairi  Finnegan 19.16; 85 Kevin Mulcaire 19.47; 95 Con Doherty 20.04. Teams – 1 France 48. 2 Russia 51, 3 Itay 55…. 9 Ireland 157.