National Cross Country
All roads led to Co Kilkenny on Sunday where Gowran was hosting the All Ireland Senior Cross-Country Championships. Indeed history was almost made when for the first time since 1999, on a course that had turned into a mud-bath, a non-Dublin club won the men’s team title. That club was Kilkenny City Harriers. Defending champions Clonliffe Harriers a club that has thirty-two team titles to its credit, finished third. Leading the team home was Dublin champion Efrem Gidey in seventh place. First Dublin finisher was Brian Fay of Raheny Shamrock in fifth place. In the team placings, Raheny finished sixth, DSD eighth and Donore Harriers tenth, Rathfarnham WSAF 11th, Raheny ‘B’ 15th - and first B team, Sportsworld 19th and Liffey Valley B 21st of the 24 teams entered
With four finishers in the top sixteen, Dublin City Harriers successfully defended the team title they had won in 2022 for the first time in twenty years. Edel Monaghan in ninth place was first home for the team. Second was DSD, led by Grace Lynch in seventh place. Dublin won both men and women’s county team titles. In the U20 women’s race, DSD finished fourth and Dublin third county, while in the men’s race Clonliffe was second and Dublin the winning lead, led by Jonas Stafford of UCD AC who finished second overall.
The full results are on the Myrunresults website. Picture courtesy Tullamore Harriers Facebook site.
Finally, Irish mountain running international Killian Mooney of Dundrum South Dublin was the winner of the annual Run the Line 26km, which started and finished at Glencullen Adventure Park on Saturday (18th Nov.). Mooney finished the tough route around Three Rock, Fairy Castle and neighbouring peaks in 1 hr 52 mins 50 secs. Second – and the only other runner to break two hours – was Matthew McConnell in 1:55.06. First woman was Elizabeth Wheeler in 2:25.20.
Alex Gray was a clear winner of the shorter 13km race in 49 mins 14. Second in 53:13 was Marc Fitzachary while third was Barry Minnock in 55:49. Clocking 63 mins 10 secs to finish first woman was Niamh Murphy. Kim Hickey in 65:26 was second and Jennifer Algar third in 66:08. The race is a fundraiser for the the Dublin and Wicklow Mountain Rescue team.