Santry demense – The scene of last December’s European XC played host to this year’s Dublin Senior XC; and although there was a moderately soggy under footing at least it was dry with no wind.
Senior Women
DSD’s Hazel Murphy was a gun to tape winner extending her lead on every lap, but behind her an intact group fizzled out over the three laps. On the second lap we were ahead on points with our five girls running in the top fourteen. Aoife always looked like 2nd or 3rd as she ran 90% of the race neck and neck with Raheny’s Aoife Talty. However the latter died away in the last 400m, with DSD’s Bryony Treston finishing like a train to get up to second, and this proved decisive for the team title. Bryony had conserved her energy by running back in the third group for most of the race. Eimear, Crona and Jean (who were part of that third group) also ran excellently to complete the scoring; but all of our girls struggled in the heavy conditions when compared to the Gerry Farnham XC two weeks ago. We will have a stronger squad when Lucy recovers from last week’s Dublin city marathon, and the biggest prize is five months away so there’s plenty of time to prepare for it.
Senior Men
Phil was our sole entry for this, he eased into it having been 26th on the first lap and he picked off runners in each lap to end up 22nd. Well done Phil, you were the picture of calmness! At the sharper end of this half-sized race (48 runners going to post when there’s normally 100), a top group of 14 kept it together for the first two of six laps. Then DSD’s Joe Sweeney must have thrown in a sub 4:30 mile as the whole field was strung apart on the third lap. He kept up this relentless pressure and lapped half of the field, and his five club mates finished in the top third of the race to regain their team crown.
Well done to DSD for winning both senior titles on the day, and well done to all runners for partaking in these highly competitive races.
Dublin Senior Cross Country Championships 2010
Senior Women
1 Murphy Hazel Dundrum South Dublin AC 18.37
2 Treston Bryony Dundrum South Dublin AC 19.08
3 Brady Aoife Sportsworld AC 19.14
8 Martin Eimear Sportsworld AC 19.38
10 Brady Crona Sportsworld AC 19.40
13 Wilson Jean Sportsworld AC 19.49
DNF Jennings Catriona Sportsworld AC
Senior Women Team
1 Dundrum South Dublin AC 1,2,12,14 = 29
2 Sportsworld AC 3,8,10,13 = 34
3 Raheny Shamrocks AC 5,7,17,18 = 47
4 Clonliffe Harriers AC 4,11,16,20 = 51
Senior Men
1 Sweeney Joseph Dundrum South Dublin AC 32.18
2 O’Neill Breandan Dundrum South Dublin AC 32.33
3 Coghlan John Metro St. Brigids 32.57
22 Kilgannon Phil Sportsworld AC 36.35
