Leinster Novice and Masters XC 2015

On Sunday 25th October Sportsworld athletes swapped the comfort of a lazy Sunday bank holiday afternoon for an energy sapping but ultimately exhilarating cross country romp around a field in Co.Meath with not a sheep in sight for miles.

Any possible confusion with a certain well known chicken farm was laid (no pun intended) aside and upon arrival we could see that this was a thoroughly well organised affair, set in the grounds around the Moyvalley Hotel, near Enfield Co.Meath. Rather than heading straight to the running field, the team chose first to inspect the Hotel in order to see how the post run refreshments were going to shape up. Having sussed out the hotel, a patch of ground was identified near the running field, kit bags were flung down and a Sportsworld base camp was declared. Other teams had quite sophisticated set ups, including tents and flags, it was an almost tribal-like affair. Aside from the Seniors races, there were various Junior races. It was a packed timetable but the organisers managed to keep things flowing nicely and kept very strictly to the planned start times which was appreciated.

The weather was generally kind, with fairly firm conditions underfoot. In keeping with Sportsworld thoroughness of preparation, a number of us chose to walk the course and get a sense of the battle to come. Generally it was a flat course, however there was one tough hill at the end of each lap which tested all and sundry.

Having never experienced running in a Cross country race before I was taken by a lot of the similarities between XC (as Cross Country appears sometimes to be abbreviated to) and Horse racing – the numerous races, the use of the word Novice, the starting pen like stalls at the start, the inspecting of the course beforehand and even the false starts.

Then the battles commenced.

From a personal point of view, as a person who has never run XC, I found the whole experience hugely rewarding, the friendly camaraderie of my team colleagues and also the support from the sidelines. Even though as a new member I wouldn’t be the most familiar of faces, the shouts of “c’mon Sportsworld” when the red and white singlet came into view was tremendously uplifting and it felt like Sportsworld was disproportionately well represented in the supporting stakes among the onlookers.

Sportsworld entered large teams in four races, mens and ladies Novice and mens and ladies Masters. The ladies masters took the field and performed heroically, particularly Ruth Kelly who came in 6th place with a storming 4k run of 15.29 and who also kept the Dublin flag flying in the county result. The Ladies Sportsworld team came in a very creditable eighth place (out of 19).

Noreen Brouder led the Ladies Novice team home in an impressive 12th place in 15.52 and the Sportsworld team came 6th in that race.