We had two teams and all of them ran themselves into the ground in windy wet conditions over an extremely difficult course which included a steep hill.Our team was quietly confident of taking the honours as they had trained and performed impressively in recent months. However it has to be delivered on the day which was done in spades.
When John Dunne (20:34) stormed home in 18th position in the National Novice cross country championships held at the Waterford IT Sports Campus on Sunday he was closing the scoring for both the winning Donore Harriers and Dublin county teams. John, who is an M35 Master, only took up running in a serious way about 15 months ago after having previously played football. On Sunday his recent Dublin marathon training and his fine leg-speed gained from years of playing football came into full effect on the last half of the 6km race, held over four 1.5km laps, when he gained from 35thposition to safely finish within the top 20. It was a great personal achievement and a real bonus for the Donore team.
In front of John three Donore athletes placed in the top 15 – and, thus, the inter-club team victory seemed assured. And so it proved! Mark Dooley 19:59 ran a solid race to finish 7th, whilst both Eric Keogh 20:21 and Lee Van Haeften 20:24 in respective 12th and 14th positions ran tenaciously to ensure a comprehensive team win.
The final team result saw Donore Harriers as clear winners on 51 points, with Dublin rivals Rathfarmham second on 124 and Leevale third on 139.
Mark, Eric, Lee and John made up 4 of the 6 scorers on the winning Dublin team (76 points); ahead of Cork (132) and Tipperary (201).
Niall Lynch 21:12 was the 5th Donore Harrier home in 45th. Next home were Darren Hand 21:46s in 78th (and first scorer in his native county Cavan team) just one place and one second ahead of Graham Hopkins. Fergal Swaine 22:14 closed for the ‘A’ team in 107th spot.
Emmet O’Briain 22:05 found the hilly and soft underfoot conditions to be tough going and could replicate his excellent run in the recent Jingle Bells 5km road race. However, he led home the Donore ‘B’ team in a respectable 96th position. Emmet was supported by Des Tremble 23:06 in 145th; Gerard McDonald 23:47 in 169th; Stephen Dawson 24:46 in 202nd; and Joe Murphy 25:26 in 212th. The Donore ‘B’ team placed 21st of 24 teams.
Ciaran O’Flaherty, the Team Manager, gave the following comment post the race: “This squad is going from strength to strength and the success of recent times bodes well for the future”. The team now targets the National Senior Cross Country championship in early March. Let’s hope for more team glory! And some words of credit to John Downes, Iain Morrison and Mick Bourke, who continue to do sterling work in coaching and motivating the squads. A great day for Donore and the Long Term Development team.
In the Women’s race held over 4.000m Breda Mahony was Donore’s lone competitor. Breda ran a steady race throughout and finished in the top half of a large field in 59th place.
Jack Rudden-Kelly gained a silver medal with the Irish team at the Schools International Pentathlon held at the Emirates Stadium in Glasgow on Saturday. Despite stepping-up an age group Jack put in a valiant performance to finish sixteenth overall recording a 9.71s time in the 60m Hurdles; 5.31cm in the Long Jump; 10.45cm in the Shot Putt; and 2.32s in the 800m. In the under 16s category the Irish team finished second behind England, but ahead of Wales and hosts Scotland.
In Saturday’s Aware 5K, Michelle Dawson continued her return to racing with 24:32. In the BHAA 5k Cross Country on Sunday Maura Kearns ran will to finish in 19:53, Ian Redican 20:18, Florence Curley 20:37, Frank Mc Nally 21:27, Linda Curtin 25:52, Ann Woodlock 27:30