Gold secured at county cross country
When sitting down to write this week’s report the overwhelming feeling was that it will be hard to say anything good about what happened in Riverstick last Sunday at the county cross country championships. The Byzantine level of ill-conceived administrative details outlined by the county board committee led to a ‘new’ way of doing things. Underage athletes who are used to the presence of their Garda-vetted coaches were denied that comfort in the interest of safety. Whose safety? Not that of the underage athletes who were left to warm up in a playpen sized area on their own, frantically looking for the toilets that didn’t exist. The pre-registered coaches were told at the gate that they were being denied entry after a change to protocols that had not been communicated to the clubs and had to drive back home after wasted, unnecessary journeys .
The race start was also a new departure surely taken from the equestrian world which would be more typically seen on Grand National Day in Aintree, with no actual start-line and a rolling start of sorts. Another idea taken from motorsports was a quad bike leading the charge akin to a formula one safety car on the first lap as the course was so scantily lined that on two particular corners athletes literally went cross country and cut metres off the lap.
Now it wasn’t all doom and gloom as the adult races, the men’s novice in particular, were two of the biggest entries in many a year. Undoubtedly, due to the fact that it was the only show in town and possibly the last race for another while.
The underage races saw a culling of numbers with the unusual decision not to let any up in age athletes compete. Even with the reduced three to score for a team rule also introduced, so many clubs were unable to muster teams. With only races for U14s and 16s Carraig could only field in the 16s category.
Both our girls and boys did the business taking team gold in their respective races.
Rebecca Kelleher led the girls with a solid fourth place finish for individual bronze to continue her run of medalling at counties in recent years. Mary Dorgan (10), Ellie Twomey (14) and Sorcha Daly made up this team that have been in the trenches for many a year already and have seen their share of success.
In the boys race we had a new county champion to celebrate when Eoin Quirke impressively took the day with a commanding run with an impressive overall pace well clear of second. Timmy Hawkins had his best finish at counties taking individual bronze in sixth place. Arron Sheehan was third to score just outside the individual medal positions in ninth place and Odhran McCarthy (12th) completed this well balanced group.
With only six races on the seven hour program, next into action were our novice women’s team. After winning the East Cork divisional crown two weeks ago, the girls had realistic eyes on at least a team medal. The standard of race was impressive for novice and the team were resigned to fourth place but consolidation in the fact that they belong at this level competing with some of the biggest adult clubs in the country. In the race itself the team was led around by Katie Walsh who took 9th overall and won the U23 title to add another crown to her palmares. The team members were Aisling Byrne, Siobhan Walsh, Nessa Wheeler, Cliona Hurley and Helen Roche. The girls have had a wonderful few weeks of competition and will hopefully strengthen from the experience.
In the men’s novice race 112 finishers was a strong turnout that had three Carraig singlets in amongst the chain of athletes as it wound around the course like a centipede. The most surreal part of the event was the running commentary over the public address system of a race that had zero spectators. Amid all the daftness, Willie and Richard got in a valuable session on the course that will hopefully hold the masters competition in a few weeks’ time and Ruaidhri shows what a loyal club member he is, pulling on the singlet constantly for nearly ten years now.
SUMMARY
To take the positives from the day and put the negativity around the organisation aside, we saw some good things at this year’s county cross country first day out. The introduction of chip timing for the first time is hugely important if we are to move to a more professional approach and attract more numbers back to XC running. For the club two new county title winners was a big plus and the older teenage teams continued success is heartening. The influx of new blood to our adult women has made them contenders at their level and is exciting for the future. Our men are patiently waiting for the new batch of young talent to make it through in the hope that their ageing legs will still be able when the day comes.
OTHER BUSINESS
Our track and field athletes who have been selected for the Munster performance squads had their first day of training in Templemore ACs track last Saturday. The regional performance squads provide our athletes opportunity to access regional and national development coaching in an elite environment throughout the winter and early spring. 17 of our junior aged athletes have been selected this year.
LOOK FORWARD
Day two of the county cross country championships will, hopefully, take place this Sunday again in Riverstick under the same measures that seem to be unique to county Cork. With the continuing uncertainties around Covid regulation levels we will take everything week by week. This week’s training is Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday. Contact details can be found on our website carraignabhfearac.com.