Dublin Senior Cross Country 2015

Race report from a very tired Gareth Murran…

Thanks to Anna Delaney  and Will Greensmyth for the photos.

Despite the Halloween weekend. The Sportsworld senior men’s team were not out trick or treating but were nestled up in their beds nice and early on Saturday night. For the first time in a few years we had the full compliment of 6 runners towing the line at the Dublin Senior cross country over 10K. This year the race was held on a new course in Tymon North park in South Dublin. Weather conditions were amazing for the race with  17 degree temperatures and barely a single patch of mud on the entire course.

In my 6 years with Sportsworld I’ve ran the Dublin Senior cross country on 3 occasions. You need to be running well to tackle 5 x 2K laps in such illustrious company with the top 10 finishers having some very impressive sub 4 minutes miles and 2:15 marathons in their repertoire.

In my first race back in 2009 I was lapped very early and ended up finishing right at the back of the field. 6 years laters , 30 places further up the field  and almost into the top half of the finishers list.  Cross country is one hill of a sport. It’s not how fast you run but comes down to how long you can run fast. It takes all you got.

The course had one big hill today, a few smaller hills but allot of fast running. I have never seen a cross country course like it. 10K is a long way but we had amazing support on every corner of the course out there. A big thanks to everyone who came out to watch from as far afield as Sydney Australia. Also thanks to Myles and Emily for getting us there.

With most of the team being a bit shy of race fitness it was always going to be tough for the team to place. We finished 7th but packed well. Karol was first home in 28th position. The women’s race was won by Caroline Crowley and the men’s by Mick Clohesy, both very impressive.

28 Karol Cronin, Sportsworld A.C. 36.14
33 Phil Kilgannon Sportsworld A.C. 37.00
36 Gareth Murran Sportsworld A.C. 37.14
50 Paul O’Connell Sportsworld A.C. 39.06
58 Packie Enright Sportsworld A.C. 40.45
60 Derek Saville, Sportsworld A.C. 42.01