MASTERS INTERNATIONAL CROSS-COUNTRY
After Ireland’s historic victory last year, the English winning streak resumed at the 34th annual British and Irish Masters’ Cross-Country International, hosted by Scotland at Tollcross Park in Glasgow, Scotland on Saturday (November 11). In a closely fought competition, England were the overall winners with 72 points, while Ireland with 63 points beat host nation Scotland by a single point for second place.On a good day for Raheny Shamrock AC Annette Kealy was first W55 and June Comiskey third W75, with both helping their teams to gold, as was Zoe Quinn, 9th W45. Mary Lynch was seventh W70 - just a fortnight after finisheing first W70 in the Dublin Marathon with the team also finishing first. Of the men, Ian Conroy finished 7th M40 and the team third; and John Dunne 11th M45, with the team second. From other Dublin clubs, Mary Brown of Lucan Harriers was seventh W65 and the team second; Paul Cowhie of Crusaders ACtenth M55 and the team third and Lea Fulcher of Plant-Based AC 16th M50 and the team third. With four team wins from the eight races (W40, W45, W55, W70) and three second places, Ireland retained the overall women’s team title by three points, with England second. The Irish men with three second places (M35, 45, 75) and five thirds (M40, 50,55,60 ,70) finished third overall behind Scotland and England.
- Special congratulations to Irish company MyRunResults, led by Ronan Wogan of Raheny Shamrock AC, who travelled to Glasgow to time this popular event.
LOCAL CROSS-COUNTRY
A record 200 women have already signed up for this year’s Women’s Meet and Train Winter 3km Cross-Country League, with 117 finishing Sunday’s opening round of the league at Tymon Park - the ‘go to’ venue for almost all cross-country races in the greater Dublin area at the moment. Sophie McGovern of Brothers Pearse AC, running as an individual, pushed the pace from the start and was rewarded with a comfortable victory in 11 mins 49 secs. Her clubmate Rebekah Vickery was second in 11:53 with Emma Finlay of Esker AC third in 12:06 . Making up the top six were Jeanie Watson (Crusaders AC), Tara Burke (Sportsworld AC) and Brid Ní Chonaill (Raheny Shamrock AC).
Other teams in action included Blackrock AC, Dundrum South Dublin AC, Donore Harriers, Rathfarnham WSAF AC, Love2Run, Waterstown Warriors, Lucan Harriers and The Wolfpack. Many had entered multiple teams. Also running were individuals from Front Runners AC. Not in action yet were teams from Clonliffe Harriers and others who are still recovering from the Dublin Marathon a fortnight ago. Huge thanks to South Dublin County Council for its ongoing support of grass-roots running. With venues so difficult to find, it’s much appreciated. We’ll be back in Tymon Park for a BHAA race on Saturday and there again the weekend after for the Dublin Intermediate Championships. The full results are in the attached document.
* The next round in the league (of four in total) will take place in January with a venue yet to be decided. With three results from four to count, new teams and individuals can still sign up for an overall fee of €20. Offers of venues also welcome! Contact is Fiona Shine at
Caption: Emma Finley (Esker AC) 3rd, Sophie McGovern (Bros Pearse) winner and Rebekah Vickery (Bros Pearse) second. More Pics from M&T at https://www.flickr.com/
ROADS
Sergiu Ciobanu of Clonliffe Harriers was the winner of the Thomas Kent 10km in Castlelyons, Co Cork on Sunday (November) 12) Ciobanu, who had helped Clonliffe Harriers to team victory at the Dublin Marathon a fortnight earlier, finished in 31:50.
Winners of the Polish Independence Run 10km in St Anne’s Park on Sunday were August Benedicto in 35 mins 36 secs and Monika De Almeida of Athlone IT AC in 43:37.
MOUNTAINS
Killian Mooney of DSD AC was the winner of the Powerscourt Ridge (16km, 1000m) mountain race held on a sunny winter morning on Saturday (November 11) in Co Wicklow. Mooney was followed home by international orienteer Colm Moran of Rathfarnham WSAF AC. Irish international mountain runner Sarah McCormack, who is based in Ambleside in the English Lake District, was first woman.
IUAA ROAD RELAYS
UCD won both men and women’s titles at the Irish Universities Road Relays, held as is traditional at the Maynooth University campus on Friday (November 10). First up were the women, with the UCD quartet of Renee Crotty, Danielle Donegan, Aoife Coffey and Roise O’Reilly clocking a time of 33 mins 39 sec for the 1-2-2-1 mile relay. Second was DCU A in 34:26, while third in 34:56 was Trinity College Dublin.
In the men’s 1-2-3-2-1 mile race, UCD finished in 42 mins 41 secs, with DCU second in 43:15 and University of Limerick third in 43:37. Making up the team were Mark Milner, Jonas Stafford, Darragh McElhinney, Cian McPhillips and Luke McCann. McElhinney ran 14:07 for the three-mile leg – the fastest of the day. Fastest on the final mile leg was Luke McCann with a time of 4 min 39 secs. Fastest time recorded on the two-mile legs was a 9 mins 18 sec clocking from Sean McGinley of DCU with 9:18. A total of 41 teams ran in the men’s race with 26 in the women’s race.
STATESIDE
Abdel Laadjel of Donore Harriers will line out in next Saturday’s NCAA National Cross-Country Championships in Charlottesville, Virginia after finishing ninth in 29 mins 55 secs at the NCAA North-East Championships at Van Cortlandt Park, New York on Friday (November 10). Distance was 10km. Late last month, Laadjel had also finished ninth in the Big East Championships.
