Dublin Intermediate Cross Country 2015

Reports by Maura Ginty & Brian Conway

Thanks to Lucia Prihodova, Conor Kenny and Gareth Murran for the photos. Full album here: Gallery

Sportsworld results below.

Report by Maura Ginty

Maura leading the charge

Dublin female intermediate championship is held over a 5k course a week before the national novice. It’s on 3 weeks after the Leinster intermediate which itself is over a 4k course. Ours is not to reason why. [Ok – have checked the rules and these are indeed the prescribed distances by athletics Ireland and athletics Leinster respectively]

Our female team was missing a few speedsters, both through ineligibility and other personal commitments. Caoimhe was racing her first xc race and was remarkably calm beforehand, wondering what it would be like. I muttered something about it “going to be grand” not making eye contact, knowing it was a complete lie, but it was what people had told me when i was racing first. The rest of us had the usual varying issues with injury, holidays, lack of race fitness etc. Mine was the holiday’s one – see Gareth’s report for a full run-down. It was clearly not an ideal preparation week, but I honestly don’t know when is for this level.

The course is a couple of laps around Tymon Park and reasonably flat with a pretty sweet downhill, which you can really make up places on. Ground was fine, not really muddy.

Got to the start and even allowing for the fact that the national novice (which some clubs appear to have been prioritising) was on in a week, there was only 38 runners which is disappointing and not reflective of female participation/level of running in the county. Though I quickly decided that the start line was not the time to be analysing the state of xc running in county Dublin.

And we were off! Caroline was her usual enthusiastic self from the gun and took Gemma with her as they tore off. Rest of us tried to stay with them with lots of jostling for position and people being very polite with lots of “sorrys” which was a bit bizarre.

My aim had been to stick with the girls for as long as possible and match or better my performance in the Leinsters -where i was behind Naoise and just ahead of Margaret and Catherine. After about 1k Caoimhe/Naoise and Catherine/Margaret were whizzing by and i just did not have it in me to keep with them. With hindsight, I’am disappointed with that and feel I should have been able to run for longer in a pack. Though sure what is a race without development points?

Soon after our team became very fragmented; Caoimhe was off in the distance and we were all running individually after Caroline and Gemma came back to us, with Lucia slightly after Gemma. Apart from Emily’s ever present optimism, medal placing didn’t seem to be a probability, and the rest of the race was a real slog. I tried to catch a Bros Pearse runner which kept me occupied and out of trouble from those behind.

Crossing the finish was the usual euphoria that it was all over and the weekend could begin. In particular, the performance of Caoimhe was so impressive and gave us all cause for optimism.

So 4th place overall for the team, which is a significant improvement on 2014’s 9th. And we look forward to a strengthened team (and bodies) for the novice and upcoming seasons.

Big mention for all the support (especially the lads who were racing next) which was absolutely brilliant and despite the grimaces, we were grateful for all the shout outs.

I could not wait around for the tea/biscuits afterwards as my driver had some 20% discount shopping in BT’s to attend to.

Report by Brian Conway

Brian in action Saturday

This year’s Dublin Intermediate 8K cross-country took place in Tymon Park. For cross-country runners this is a familiar place. Over the years it has been the venue for many BHAA cross-country races. And it has a lot to recommend it as a course: it is relatively flat, is solid underfoot, and extends over a large geographical area.

For all that, it is not an easy course. There is little shelter on a windy day. There are stretches where you have to face an uphill battle. There is one steep downslope.

The race set off on time – 2.20 – and the first lap of four was fast. I settled into a steady pace on the second lap and tried to keep it up until the finish. I ran most of the course with Eoin O’Brien, who helped to keep me up to the pace. There were strong individual and team performances from Sportsworld (see below for results). Thanks to all the Sportsworld supporters along the course.

Justin McKeever had an outstanding race finishing in 18th overall, completing the 5 mile cross country course in 30min 43sec. He was followed by Damian Kelly, Karl Chatterton and  Diarmuid O’Sullivan who all came home within 90sec of each other. Anthony, Conor and Will made up the rest of the mens team.

Afterwards the prize ceremony, with tea and biscuits, took place in the Templelogue soccer club.

Sportsworld Results:

Womens 5k
16 Caoimhe Costigan Sportsworld A.C. 22.59
20 Naoise Waldron Sportsworld A.C. 23.32
23 Catherine Mulleady Sportsworld A.C. 23.47
25 Maura Ginty Sportsworld A.C. 24.24
28 Margaret Crowley Sportsworld A.C. 24.34
29 Caroline Conway Sportsworld A.C. 24.50
32 Gemma White Sportsworld A.C. 25.14
36 Lucia Prihobova Sportsworld A.C. 26.15

Mens 8k
18 Justin McKeever Sportsworld A.C. 30.43
24 Damien Kelly Sportsworld A.C. 31.22
33 Karl Chatterton Sportsworld A.C. 32.02
41 Diarmuid O’Sullivan Sportsworld A.C. 33.00
50 Anthony Gillen Sportsworld A.C. 33.54
52 Conor Keating Sportsworld A.C. 34.17
53 Will Greensymth Sportsworld A.C. 34.25
58 Brian Conway Sportsworld A.C. 36.13
60 Eoin O’Brien Sportsworld A.C. 36.50

Full results: Dublin Athletics