Dunboyne was the scene for the 2013 Leinster Novice Cross country.
For anyone who is new to this type of racing a wise man’s Momma once said, “Life is like a box of chocolates. You never know what you’re gonna get”. On the day of a cross county you do exactly the same. You arrive early to inspect the course and then hope / prey for the best. Today without Michael Cunningham at the helm we didn’t know which way was up and arrived without the gazebo or even am umbrella between us. As it proceeded to bucket down many contemplated their sanity but when the races started, the conditions were quickly forgotten about.
First up today were the Novice women. Shona went out fast in the first lap and despite falling back a bit finished well in 34th. Two newcomers to cross country Niamh (smallest running shoes ever) Flaherty and Lizulet Oosthuizen ran well in the tough conditions, finishing in the exact same time in 61st and 62nd. Aileen Melody came in at the last minute to run on the Senior team.
Rachael Morgan ran exceptionally well in the Masters race to finish 7th. Followed in 24t by Ciara Foster, who is quickly getting back to form. Breda Browne came home in 40th to complete a great team effort .
In the Mens Senior Karol Cronin continued his great form of late, narrowly missing out on 1st place. Karol now has another well deserved silver medal in the bag this season. Karol was followed by Gareth Murran in 18th, Eoin Fitzpatrick who ran a fantastic first race to finish 39th, Kevin Curran in 59th and another newcomer mark Small in 61st. The masters men all ran well but results are yet to be posted online.
* Masters men Jim Brown 66th, Oliver Privat 77th and Robert McMahon th
No team medals today but good running in tough conditions. In case you have never ran a cross-country– these are the rules:
1. Any race you can walk away from is a bad race.
2. If it hurts, make it hurt more.
3. If you’re not close to giving up, you’re not training hard enough.
* On the day all the teams were also let down by many last minute drop outs. Please don’t give your name to Emily if you cant make it, although everyone is encouraged to try these races.
