What a brilliant run by Fionnuala Britton to retain the European Cross-Country title!
On a snow-packed course through a model village in Budapest, Britton pushed the pace from the start. Her grerat rival Ana Dulce Felix of Portugal stcuk to her back until about halfway round the 8km course, when she mysteriously drifted backwards. It left Britton with the Ethiopian Almensch Belete, who runs for Belgium, to contend with.
With about 2km to go, Felix made a miraculous recovery and, with Adrianne Herzog of the Netherlands, closed the gap to Britton and Belete. Sensing the danger, Britton pushed the pace again, dropping Belete and building on her lead. She crossed the line in 27 mins 45 secs. For a second year, Felix finished second; Herzog was third and Belete fourth.
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| Golden girl Fionnuala |
Behind Britton, the Irish team was packing exceptionally well. Linda Byrne, a experienced cross-country campaigner, moved into the top 10 in the latter stages of the race, finishing a brilliant 8th. Ave Hutchinson and Lizzie Lee had run together for much of the race and they finished 20th and 23rd. That brought the Irish total to 52 points. With France on the same total, the Irish just edged it on countback, thanks to the extra point taken by Lizzie Lee when she pipped the Spanish runner Lidia Rodriquez on the line. Backing up the scoring four were Sarah McCormack and Sarah Treacy.
Leading home the senior men in 22nd place was Breandan O’Neill, winner of U-23 team gold a few years ago. O’Neill, who was as high as 14th early on, finished almost half a minute ahead of intercounty champion Joe Sweeney in 27th place. They were followed by David Rooney 38th, Michael Mulhare 44th, Sean Hehir 52nd and Brian Maher 73rd.
The women’s junior team finished in eighth place, led by Sarah Collins 31st and Siofra Cleirigh Buttner 36th. Best of a depleted men’s junior squad was Stephen Kerr 37th. John Travers in 44th position led the men’s U-23 team to 11th position.
* Sligo AC’s Dermot McDermott won the men’s race at the National Novice C-C in Adamstown, beating his training partner Ray Hynes of Crusaders. Laura Crowe of Riocht was a convincing winner of the women’s race. Due to an unfortunate systems breakdown, results are only coming through now.
* Running machine Gary O’Hanlon of Clonliffe won the Clonakilty Marathon in 2 hrs 30 mins, with his buddy Sergiu Ciobanu first in the half marathon. Supervet Mary Sweeney of St Finbarr’s was first woman in the marathon. Over 2,000 finishers between three races.
*Mick Clohisey of Raheny Shamrock won the Aware 10km in 31 mins 7 secs; first woman was Fiona Roche, also Raheny, in an excellent time of 34 mins 59 secs.
* Phil Kilgannon of Sportsworld won the Vodafone BHAA 5km C-C in Marlay, with Sarah Mulligan first of the women.
Sunday December 9
19th SPAR European C-C, Budapest, Hungary.
Women – Senior (54 finishers; 7 teams): 1 Fionnuala Britton (Irl) 27.25, 2 Ane Dulce Felix (Por) 27.47, 3 Adrienne Herzog (Ned) 27.48, 4 Almensh Belete (Bel) 27.54; 5 Laurane Picoche (Fra) 27.55; 6 Sophie Duarte (Fra) 27.55. Other Irish: 8 Linda Byrne 28.17, 20 Ave Hutchinson 28.38, 23 Lizzie Lee 28.42, 36 Sarah McCormack 29.22, 42 Sara Treacy 29.45. Teams – 1 Ireland (1,8,20,23) 51; 2 France (5,6,13,28) 52; 3 GB and NI (11,15,16,18) 60.
U–23 (63 finishers, 9 teams): 1 Jess Coulson (GBR) 20.40, 2 Liudmila Lebedeva (Rus) 20.49, 3 Clemence Calvin (Fra) 20.52. Irish: 54 Laura Behan 23.28; 58 Una Britton 23.41. Teams – 1 Russia (2,4,8,13) 27; 2 GB and NI (1,5,12,15) 33; 3 Germany 6,16,30,32) 84.
Junior (93 finishers; 15 teams); 1 Amela Terzic (SRB) 13.29; 2 Emelia Gorecka (GBR) 13.37; 3 Maya Rehberg (Ger) 13.43. Irish: 31 Sarah Collins 14.38; 36 Siofa Cleirigh Buttner 14.47; 41 Mary Mulhare 14.52; 68 Clare McCarthy 15.27; 70 Linda Conroy 15.29. Teams – 1 GB and NI (2,5,8,13) 28; 2 Germany (3,17,42,44) 106; 3 Russia (10,11,21,69) 111….8 Ireland 176.
Men – Senior (84 finishers, 13 teams): 1 Andrea Lalli (Ita) 30.01; 2 Hassan Chahdi (Fra) 30.11; 3 Daniele Meucci (Ita) 30.13; 4 Thomas Farrell (GBR) 30.14; 5 Carlos Castillejo (Esp) 30.14; 6 Ayad Lamassan (Esp) 30.14. Irish: 22 Breandan O’Neill 30.42; 27 Joe Sweeney 31.05; 38 David Rooney 31.22; 44 Michael Mulhare 31.30; 52 Sean Hehir 31.36; 73 Brian Maher 33.06. Teams – 1 Spain (5,6,8,15) 35; 2 GB and NI (4,10,11,13) 38; 3 Italy (1,3,18,41) 63…. 7 Ireland 131.
U–23 (94 finishers, 15 teams) 1 Henrik Ingebrigtsen (Nor) 24.30; 2 Soufiane Bouchikhi (Bel) 24.40; 3 James Wilkinson (GBR) 24.43. Irish – 44 John Travers 25.51; 52 Patrick Hogan 26.07; 76 Dave Fitzmaurice 26.44; 80 Sam Mealy 26.55; 86 Chris Johnston 27.25. Teams – 1 France (5,10,15,20) 50; 2 Spain 6,7,17,29) 59; 3 GB and NI (3,16,23,28) 80….11 Ireland 252.
Junior (114 fnishers, 21 teams) 1 Szymon Kulka (Pol) 18.43; 2 Mitko Rumenov Rsenov (Bul) 18.47; 3 Kieran Clements (GBR) 18.57. Irish: 37 Stephen Kerr 19.38; 61 Eoghan Totten 19.55; 89 Killian Mooney 20.29; 107 Ian Guiden 21.38. Teams – 1 Russia (10,11,14,15) 50: 2 France (5,7,19,20) 51; 3 GB and NI (3,9,18,24) 54….18 Ireland 294.
Woodie’s DIY Novice & Juvenile Uneven Ages C-C, Adamstown, Co Wexford.
Men (193 finishers) – 1 Dermot McDermott (Sligo AC) 19.49, 2 Ray Hynes (Crusaders) 19.53, 3 Paul Stephenson (Rath WSAF) 19.55, 4 Liam Brady (Tullamore Hrs) 19.57; 5 Ben Thistlewood (Leevale) 20.04, 6 Stephen Lawlor (St Abban’s) 20.11. Teams – 1 Finn Valley (9,14,16,24) 63; 2 Leevale (5,13,26,29) 73; 3 Togher (22,23,27,43) 115.
Women (100 finishers) – 1 Laura Crowe (Riocht) 14.30, 2 Caroline Crowley (Crusaders) 15.05, 3 Eimear O’Leary (MSB) 15.13; 4 Maria McCarthy 15.15; 5 Ide Nic Dhomhnaill (Donore) 15.25; 6 Martina O’Dwyer 15.25. Teams (11)– 1 Crusaders (2,10.24.32) 68; 2 Donore Hrs (5.13.22,42) 82; 3 Sportsworld (16,26,31.37) 110. Counties (9)-1 Dublin 20; 2 Tipperary 99; 3 Kerry 101.
Vodafone BHAA Cross-Country 5km, Marlay Park, Rathfarnham, Dublin (196 finishers; results at www.boards.iewhile www.bhaa.ie is being redeveloped)
Men: 1 Phil Kilgannon (Mistycroft) 16.37; 2 Kevin English 16.53; 3 Clyde Dunne (Dunne Garden Services), M40) 17.00; 4 Gary Crossan (Amphibina King,M40) 17.03; 5 Ronan Keanrs (Dept of Ent) 17.07; 6 Tom O’Connor (B of I, M50). Teams – A: 1 Pfizer 52, 2 Gardai 115, 3 Engineering A 121. B: Dublin City Council 167, 2 ESB 251; 3 DIT 259. C: 1 Eircom 251, 2 RTE 301, 3 Dublin City Council 402. D: 1 Sap 300, 2 Gardai 362, 3 ESB 450.
Women: 1 Sarah Mulligan 18.20; 2 Maura Kearns (Dep of Ed) 20.03; 3 Sheelagh Jones (Sec Teachers, W50) 20.41; 4 Vanessa Sallier (Mercer) 20.43; 5 Shirley Mitchell (Uniphar) 20.45; 6 Emer Waring (Vodafone) 21.43. Teams– 1 Health A 47; 2 Revenue 65.
Saturday December 8
Men: 1 Mick Clohisey (Raheny Shamrock) 31.07; 2 Cillian O’Leary (Raheny Shamrock) 32.26; 3 Ian Conroy (Raheny Shamrock) 32.53; 4 Wayne Reid (Athlone TC) 33.30; 5 Eoin Callaghan (Star of the Sea) 33.33; 6 Thomas Evans (Gowran) 33.34.
Women: 1 Fiona Roche (Raheny Shamrock) 34.59; 2 Niamh Devlin (DSD) 37.08; 3 Anne Curley (Donore, W40) 38.02; 4 Dervila Holmes (Donore) 38.45; 5 Emma Cooper (Clonliffe) 39.13; 6 Emma Donlon (MSB) 39.27.
5km (132 finishers): 1 Paul Tolchard 19.17, 2 David Bolger 21.45; 3 Elaine Fitzgerald 23.53; 4 Niamh Murphy 24.38; 5 John Keane 25.29; 6 Siobhan McDermott 26.09.
Marathon (374 finishers) – Men: 1 Gary O’Hanlon (Clonliffe, M35) 2:30.43; 2 Paul O’Flaherty 2:35.23; 3 George Waugh 2:37.23; 4 Oliver Sebantke (M35) 2:38.29; 5 Eugene McCarthy (M45) 2:49.17; 6 Rory Mooney 2:49.35.
Women: 1 Mary Sweeney (St Finbarr’s, W50) 3:17.39; 2 Joyce Wolfe 3:19.11; 2 Nora Barry W45 3:26.00; 3 Karen Kenny 3:27.04; 4 Ann Cashman 3:32.07; 5 Aideen Shinners 3:33.48; 6 Mary Jennings (Waterford AC, W55) 3:36.23.
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