It was a golden day at Dunboyne for Sportsworld with a great haul of medals coming home with both the male and female teams.
I was quite apprehensive ahead of the race with storm Ashley breezing its way across the country. With gusts of up to 90km/hr, we were in for some tough racing conditions. Luckily, when we arrived at Cowpark, the ground was nice and firm, compared to the usual mud bath we are usually treated to on this course.
The novice ladies were up first. With a field of almost 80 athletes, we were going to be in for a competitive race. Sportsworld had a strong contingent of ladies competing and after their medals at Dublin Novice, they were hungry for more. The gun fired and off we went, with the usual sprinting start to jostle for position. All the ladies got out strong and performed brilliantly throughout. I managed to get a leading position and remained in the lead pack for the first lap. Then, coming in to the second lap, I found myself in second place. I felt extremely strong at this point and planned my attack on first position. I managed to pull away and create a gap with the wind as a slight aid. (shoutout to Paul O’Beirne for the mid race pep talk).
I was delighted to come away with first place, earning my first Leinster (or any?) gold medal. I was very swiftly followed home by the rest of the Sportsworld ladies who all smashed it out of the park. So much so that we won team gold, as well as two more county gold medals. Congrats to the medal winners Veronica Burke 10th, Lorna Sheehan 11th and Rachel Calvey 15th and to the rest of the team Roisin, Michelle, Kate, Katie and Megan.
Next up we had the Novice men’s race and again had a great number of runners competing. The men had the privilege of doing an extra 2km than the women, which I couldn’t even imagine given the weather conditions. The men all ran brilliant races, with Paul O’Beirne leading them home in a fantastic 12th place which won him yet another county gold medal to add to the haul. Following him home was Donagh Egan in 21st , Andrew Finan in 29th and Karl Chatterton 51st , winning them all team bronze medals. Adam, Liam, Stephan Anthony and Brian also put in fantastic performances.
It’s days like last Sunday that show what all the hard work is for, and it was brilliant to see such strong teams fielded for Sportsworld. It has been an exciting start to the 2024/25 cross country season and I am so excited to see what both the ladies and mens teams can achieve.
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