Report written by Sinead Farrell
The mark of a truly dedicated runner is one who gets this out the night before a race:
Deliah did herself proud at the second Meet and Train event this year, with scones, brownies, lemon cake and biscuits all featuring strongly at this event. Sorry, focus, this is supposed to be about running and not cake.
For me, 2019 has been a year of many firsts and yet another first took place this morning at Cherryfield Park, Firhouse (Brothers Pearse home ground). My Meet and Train cherry was surely popped last weekend and what an experience! My maiden cross country voyage took place last weekend in Dundalk at the championships. My brave pants were firmly strapped on that wet and windy day. Talk about a shock to the system!
The Meet and Train last Sunday morning was definitely a more casual affair – much less striding and stretching (great to see) and a gentle warm up with lots of ladies nattering happily on a chilly, brisk and sunny Sunday morning – (this is our church!). Suddenly it was lash on your spikes time and go. The course was winding and curly, quite flat for the first 2k with a rather skinny track along certain stretches. The skinny track perturbed me – maybe it’s the claustrophobic in me or maybe this is the norm for cross country, I’m not quite sure. I’ll report back when I’m a more seasoned cross country racer! I managed to dodge almost all of the twigs and branches along the way too – bonus. The rubber mat section was intriguing too! It beats spikes on tarmac I suppose. The wind was definitely quite brisk on the early pitch section of the run but the latter stage was nicely sheltered with a couple of juicy hills to keep us occupied.
The extra 0.5K around the small field was quite frankly unnecessary and unwelcomed after I had programmed my sleepy brain to just hang on in for 3K. As my watch happily buzzed at 3K, we turned the corner into the last pitch and “ah FF sake” resounded clearly through my ears. I’m not sure if it was me who omitted it or someone else. Clearly all ladylike mannerisms were left behind at the start line. But the après-run Deliah treat of biscuits, cakes and pancakes alone were worth getting up early for and sure what’s an extra half a K amongst friends? Although every half K is tough in cross county land.
I think you learn something new every time you run and as my stomach lurched as I crossed the finish line I decided to ask the oracle that is Emily what this lurching business was all about. “Ah that’ll just be the shock to the system. Many a great runner has peuked coming over the finish line “. Interesting – #newgoals #lurchforyourlife
A huge congratulations to our A team – Katie, Jess, Margaret, Elaine, Sibheal and Maria – you ran like the wind and are heading the league. Keep going ladies!
Well done to all the other Sportsworld teams and individuals running also.
Thanks so much to all of the amazing supporters and smiling faces along the way, especially Michael who must’ve strategically incorporated his Sunday run to swing Ballyboden way! All the support really takes the pain away, but momentarily, from the legs and the lurching and it’s greatly appreciated. Thanks Emily for your huge cheers and for coming out on yet another Sunday morning. Oh and I won a cook book! Spot prizes are great. Thanks Olive for the lift, pre and post run lols and for the extra little impromptu tour of the vicinity with a minor sat nav error! I’m sad we didn’t click my Garmin on and attempt the Tesco lap at breakneck speed with handbrake turns on the way home – next time we’ll donut around it! That’s my Oscar acceptance speech over with now. I’ll look forward to the next meet and train in a few weeks and then will be hanging up my spikes for a while!
| CLUB | Race 1 | Race 2 | Race 3 | Total for 3 races |
| Sportsworld A | 46 | 48 | 0 | 94 |
| Crusaders A | 76 | 38 | 0 | 114 |
| Dunboyne A | 83 | 51 | 0 | 134 |
| Bros Pearse A | 71 | 71 | 0 | 142 |
| Lucan A | 77 | 141 | 0 | 218 |
| Esker A | 136 | 156 | 0 | 292 |
| Love2Run | 137 | 164 | 0 | 301 |
| Trim A | 160 | 157 | 0 | 317 |
| Bros Pearse B | 185 | 177 | 0 | 362 |
| Crusaders B | 218 | 180 | 0 | 398 |
| Donore A | 196 | 237 | 0 | 433 |
| Donore B | 248 | 218 | 0 | 466 |
| Sportsworld B | 205 | 265 | 0 | 470 |
| Waterstown Warriors A | 236 | 254 | 0 | 490 |
| Blackrock A | 308 | 213 | 0 | 521 |
| Tallaght A | 274 | 254 | 0 | 528 |
| Crusaders C | 331 | 327 | 0 | 658 |
| Bros Pearse C | 358 | 332 | 0 | 690 |
| Sportsworld C | 397 | 386 | 0 | 783 |
| Dunshaughlin A | 432 | 371 | 0 | 803 |
| Bros Pearse D | 447 | 386 | 0 | 833 |
| Lucan B | 489 | 455 | 0 | 944 |
| Waterstown Warriors B | 520 | 471 | 0 | 991 |
| Dunboyne B | 297 | Incomplete | 0 | |
| Sportsworld D | 537 | Incomplete | 0 | |
| Esker B | Incomplete | 313 | 0 | |
| Trim B | Incomplete | 284 | 0 |
| Place | Number | Name | Team |
| 3 | 280 | Jess Kennedy | Sportsworld A |
| 6 | 279 | Katie Nugent | Sportsworld A |
| 13 | 282 | Margaret Crowley | Sportsworld A |
| 26 | 281 | Elaine Kennedy | Sportsworld A |
| 38 | 289 | Valerie Power | Sportsworld B |
| 42 | 283 | Siobheal Waldron | Sportsworld A |
| 45 | 199 | Sinead Farrell | Sportsworld Individual |
| 56 | 284 | Maria Bradley | Sportsworld A |
| 58 | 152 | Olive Fogarty | Sportsworld Individual |
| 66 | 290 | Claire Rowley | Sportsworld B |
| 70 | 305 | Mary McNamara | Sportsworld Individual |
| 73 | 293 | Bronwyn Murphy White | Sportsworld C |
| 77 | 285 | Sandra Gowran | Sportsworld B |
| 84 | 288 | Orla Greeves | Sportsworld B |
| 90 | 292 | Aileen Melody | Sportsworld C |
| 91 | 300 | Orlagh Lavery | Sportsworld D |
| 97 | 296 | Niamh Walshe | Sportsworld D |
| 106 | 295 | Anna Corrigan | Sportsworld C |
| 117 | 291 | Marie Varley | Sportsworld C |
| 123 | 308 | Maria Daly | Sportsworld Individual |
| 130 | 297 | Ann Marie Clyne | Sportsworld D |
| 134 | 294 | Mary Mullally | Sportsworld C |
