European XC

Racing Flat

Is this on the telly?

Very excited about this. Considering the form of Fagan and Ledwith and the fact that Carroll should not feel intimidated by any of his rivals, we might see 3 Irish men in the lead group at least in the early stages.

Roll on Sunday.

dpo

It's on BBC2 at 1pm, they're showing the senior races live.
Rte are covering it, not sure of the times.

thirtyfoot

Racing Flat wrote: »

Is this on the telly?

Very excited about this. Considering the form of Fagan and Ledwith and the fact that Carroll should not feel intimidated by any of his rivals, we might see 3 Irish men in the lead group at least in the early stages.

Roll on Sunday.

RTE are showing live or 'as live' I believe. Its exciting alright, Fagan will be up in the lead bunch at the start at the very least. Anyone willing to hazard predictions? Has Linda Byrne a shout in the U23 (hopefully she'll be first Irish finisher at least;)

This time next year we will be gearing up for Dublin '09 in the Demense.

cfitz

Tingle wrote: »

RTE are showing live or 'as live' I believe. Its exciting alright, Fagan will be up in the lead bunch at the start at the very least. Anyone willing to hazard predictions? Has Linda Byrne a shout in the U23 (hopefully she'll be first Irish finisher at least;)

Here's my predictions (just guessing mostly coz I'm not very well up on the opposition):

Senior: Fagan 4th (will lead for a lot of the race)
Ledwith 8th
Christie and McCormack to make up the team.

Cullen 3rd

U23: McCarthy 9th

Byrne 3rd

Junior:

Treacy 9th
C Ffrench O'Carroll 13th


Maybe that's a bit optimistic! Be a good day if we get those results!!

deadlybuzz

My predictions:

1) Bezabeh
2) Mohammed
3) Koyuncu

Fagan, Lebid and Farah in top 10.
Ledwith around 25th.


Looking forward to watching this.

runjb

I have high hopes for mary cullen and linda byrne - two of our best individual medal hopes I think. Cullen will surprise most people,not much expected of her so a big shock could be in store from her. Byrne will definetly be a medal contender in the U23.
Next for Ireland will be Fagan, a top 5 finish is well eithin his grasp.
Sara Tracey could aslo be a dark horse for a top 5 finish, top 10 anyway.

TheRoadRunner

In the mens senior event I'm going for Fagan in the top 5 and all going well to get into the medals.

I'm hoping Ledwith can maintain his form and hopefully will make the top 15. I'm not so sure about Mark Carroll. If he runs to form hopefully can make the top 25. Hopefully one of either Murray,Christie or McCormack can get close to the top 25 also. I'm going to go for Murray as our 4th scorer. This will probably all go out the window. I never get predictions right. Having said that does anybody know what the odds are on the mens team medaling ?

What's the story with Cullen. The oracle of Irish athletics (The Hearld :rolleyes:) printed she was eligible for the under 23s. Is this correct ?

anrait

No their wrong. Cullen is 26 so she'll be running the senior race.

Clum

I think Mary was born in '82, making her ineligible for u23s (beaten to it by anrait).

If all goes well on the day she could make a top 3 finish. She'll certainly be there or thereabouts.

Fagan likes to lead a race, if possible, so expect to see him at the front of the bunch, but if he doesn't push in the second half he may well be out-sprinted. He has great pace but lacks the killer kick at the end.

I'd really like to see Christie do well. He's had a few poor international cross country performances but he ran well in the European cup over the summer.

Mr Mister

Gonna go:
Fagan 5th
Ledwith 11th
Carroll 22nd
McCormack 31st

Dont know if that'll be enough to get a medal.

Mary Cullen should be top 6
David McCarthy and Sarah Treacy top 10

deadlybuzz

dpo wrote: »

It's on BBC2 at 1pm, they're showing the senior races live.
Rte are covering it, not sure of the times.

Note that BBC will be showing all of the day's races 'live' from 10am on BBC Interactive.

runjb

mary cullen not even mentioned in the Senior Women's preview on European Athletics Site,where upwards of 10 are. I think she will certainly upset some odds so. Reading an interview script from her a few weeks back she seems stronger than ever before and if she performs to her best,medal possible.
Interestingly only Linda Byrne has been mentioned so far in the previews, but I expect them to throw Fagan into the mix in the last preview.

Brong on Sunday morning, BBC at 10am then switch to RTE at 1.25pm.

Rineanna

runjb wrote: »

mary cullen not even mentioned in the Senior Women's preview on European Athletics Site,where upwards of 10 are. I think she will certainly upset some odds so. Reading an interview script from her a few weeks back she seems stronger than ever before and if she performs to her best,medal possible.Interestingly only Linda Byrne has been mentioned so far in the previews, but I expect them to throw Fagan into the mix in the last preview.

Brong on Sunday morning, BBC at 10am then switch to RTE at 1.25pm.

I think that's a good thing. No pressure or expectations. Just run her own race.

ecoli

Rineanna wrote: »

I think that's a good thing. No pressure or expectations. Just run her own race.

just because Europe dont mention her dont mean that their no pressure i mean look at all ths the we always expect our athletes to bring home medals and when they dont they are subject to lot of criticism i think we should just wish her the best and hope she has a great run whether that be a medal or not

aburke

ecoli wrote: »

Last edited by ecoli; Today at 14:46. Reason: spelling error

Off-topic. But that made me laugh out loud!
Did someone steal your full stop and your shift key?

ecoli

Junior Women
1st Steph Twell
2nd Charlotte Perdue
3rd Lauren Howarth

Team
1st GB 10
2nd Ukraine 58
3rd Russia 62
4th Ireland 77 points

12th Sara Treacy
15th Charlotte French O Carroll
17th Ciara Mageean
33th Lorraine McCarthy
54th Tara Jameson
60th Rebecca French O Carroll

Unprecedented display by GB taking top six places

ecoli

Junior Men
1st Carvalho (France)
2nd Moen (Norway)
3rd Chahdi (France)

Team
1st France
2nd Norway
3rd GB
8th Ireland 169

19th Mulhare
40th Ward
51th D. Flynn
59th Mulhare
84th P. Flynn
Quinn ????

ecoli

U23 Women
1st Kujiken (Netherlands)
2nd Tunstall (GB)
3rd Zarudneva (Russia)

Team
1st GB
2nd Russia
3rd Germany
4th Ireland 80

10th Linda Byrne
21th Roseanne Galligan
23th Ciara Durkin
26th Hollie Knight
41st Aishling Baker
DNF Emer O Brien DNF

shopaholic

did anyone else notice that they're all wearing different Ireland singlets...did the AAI refuse to provide gear again?

ecoli

U23 men
1st Lalli (Italy)
2nd Vernon (GB)
3rd Bayrak (Turkey)

Team
1st GB
2nd Italy
3rd France
8th Ireland

24th David McCarthy
34th Richie Yeates
37th Mick Clohisey
57thPaul Pollock
60th Jason Fahy
65th John Coughlan

ecoli

shopaholic wrote: »

did anyone else notice that they're all wearing different Ireland singlets...did the AAI refuse to provide gear again?

I dunno but how does that work for debut internationals they still given gear or what?

shopaholic

I dunno. Won't ever be a problem for me...
fair dues to some of the perfomances so far!

Funkyzeit

Great performance by Cullen...

Slogger Jogger

Yeah, great run. She was in a good battle for 3rd place for a good part of the race. The winner Kibet looked so relaxed!

ecoli

Senior Women
1st Kibet (Netherlands)
2nd Augusto (Portugal)
3rd Montero (Portugal)

Team
1st Portugal
2nd GB
3rd France

4th Mary Cullen
29th Deidre Byrne

thirtyfoot

ecoli wrote: »

I dunno but how does that work for debut internationals they still given gear or what?

There is a shortage of gear by all accounts. The masters athletes have raided supplies for every two bit international race they do, I think international gear is second on their list of priorities after medals:D (seriously, I'm only joking, no masters take offence......even if it is true;))

Great run for Mary and what a bounceback after her injury. Very happy for her after she missed Beijing.

thirtyfoot

I hope Fagan is ok after the fall. Hope it was only a trip and not a 'collapse' as his knee seemed to go from under him.

Some run from Lebid, hope he comes to Dublin next year.

Great championships for the British.

RoyMcC

A bit surreal seeing Twell, Purdue, Howarth, Pallant, Pidgeon & Park trotting over the line one after the other in the junior women [URL="javascript:emoticon(':applause:')"][/URL]

ecoli

Glad to see that the controversial wild cards by the AAI of Shane Quinn and Mark Carroll paid off. These selections ere criticized and now it is looking as though these criticisms were well founded Shane Quinn didnt manage to finish the race and Mark Carroll was not even a scorer on the team. I feel aggrieved for the people who were left at home at the whim of the governing body. I think that the selection process needs to be carefully looked at and revised

DaveH

ecoli wrote: »

Glad to see that the controversial wild cards by the AAI of Shane Quinn and Mark Carroll paid off. These selections ere criticized and now it is looking as though these criticisms were well founded Shane Quinn didnt manage to finish the race and Mark Carroll was not even a scorer on the team. I feel aggrieved for the people who were left at home at the whim of the governing body. I think that the selection process needs to be carefully looked at and revised

Well Quinn got carted off to hostipal! so have you an answer to that???
Carrol was always a gamble.
What about Richie Yeates...I thought he was the most contervisal selection?????????????????????
2nd scorer for the UNDER 23 men in 33rd place!!

The AAI have no gear left apparently. No athletes got new gear on this trip.

Writing from Brussels by the way.

helpisontheway

Shane Quinn pulled up,dont know why!

Cullen ran a very good race and Martin looked good until his fall.Where do people think he might have finished,i reckon 3rd! Ledwith was poor and expected better from Carroll also.Mcormack and Murray did relatively well.

Linda Byrne ran like a novice running at a pace that was way too much for her,shes experienced enough at this stage to run her own race.

The Junior womens race was a site to behold,it shows the British system must be working but our girls did relatively well also,maybe Rebecca and Tara were expected to finish a bit higher.

ecoli

DaveH wrote: »

Well Quinn got carted off to hostipal! so have you an answer to that???

Writing from Brussels by the way.

Apologies was not aware of this wish him a speedy recovery and hope he is okay

ecoli

helpisontheway wrote: »

Ledwith was poor

The Collegiate race season is over and he has had many top quality races he was never goin to pull out another run like the NCAA nationals i still feel that this was still a good run

helpisontheway

ecoli wrote: »

helpisontheway wrote: »

Ledwith was poor

The Collegiate race season is over and he has had many top quality races he was never goin to pull out another run like the NCAA nationals i still feel that this was still a good run

Id still disagree.I understand he was never going to be at his best due to his collegiate season but even taking that on board id still say it was a poor run.Both McCormack and Murray beat him and that was not expected.

thirtyfoot

Whats people's opinion overall of the champs?

I think the women did really, really well while the men underperformed.

The women Juniors and U23 did well and if that crew of juniors can continue and progress we could have great strength in depth. Mary Cullen will be even more determined to medal in Dublin '09 and with Fionnuala there it could be very exciting.

The men were more disappointing. The juniors probably did as well as expected but there is no stand out there. Aside of McCarthy, the U23 was probably the same while Fagan was looking great until the fall. Hard to know would he have medalled but a bronze could have been in the offing although Lebid was class.

shels4ever

Tingle wrote: »

Whats people's opinion overall of the champs?

I think the women did really, really well while the men underperformed.

The women Juniors and U23 did well and if that crew of juniors can continue and progress we could have great strength in depth. Mary Cullen will be even more determined to medal in Dublin '09 and with Fionnuala there it could be very exciting.

The men were more disappointing. The juniors probably did as well as expected but there is no stand out there. Aside of McCarthy, the U23 was probably the same while Fagan was looking great until the fall. Hard to know would he have medalled but a bronze could have been in the offing although Lebid was class.

Any news on Fagan is all ok after the fall? I would have loved to see him medal would top off a great few months for him since the olympics.

thirtyfoot

shels4ever wrote: »

Any news on Fagan is all ok after the fall? I would have loved to see him medal would top off a great few months for him since the olympics.

I think he is ok. He wasn't saying anything about it after the race by all accounts so he should be ok.

Nowso

I was watching bbc coverage of the race . Its great to see that were in a state that were down after that result.

There seems good optimism i dont think the conditions suited fagan really.

With good young runners in the nationals last week .

Its a good sign for the future

mrak

It was class. Was exciting to see irish runners so near the front in the senior races and the finish of the mens race was unbelievable. Never know what might have happened if Martin could have avoided the slip, but I don't think Lebid could have lost on the day. I was well impressed with McCormack too - he's the real deal.

If Cragg can get there healthy then we should have a fairly serious mens team for Dublin next year.

Hopefully the TV guys got good ratings and we'll see more distance running on mainstream TV again. I think joe public have to be getting bored with snooker and soccer at this stage.

Stupid_Private

On the McMillan blog this week they mention briefly Fagan's tumble

it turns out that as soon as Martin had fallen, the other leaders decided that that was the perfect time to get rid of him so they accelerated right at that point! Cunning stunt huh?!

Makes sense really.

shels4ever

Stupid_Private wrote: »

On the McMillan blog this week they mention briefly Fagan's tumble



Makes sense really.

I'd do the same if I was them too.. Had about 4-5 near falls myself at the weekend..

token56

ecoli wrote: »

Junior Men
1st Carvalho (France)
2nd Moen (Norway)
3rd Chahdi (France)

Team
1st France
2nd Norway
3rd GB
8th Ireland 169

19th Mulhare
40th Ward
51th D. Flynn
59th Mulhare
84th P. Flynn
Quinn ????

Can you confirm the positions of Mulhare and Murphy? Which was 19th?

Racing Flat

token56 wrote: »

Can you confirm the positions of Mulhare and Murphy? Which was 19th?

Murphy 19th

token56

Racing Flat wrote: »

Murphy 19th

Cheers

ss43

Tingle wrote: »

Whats people's opinion overall of the champs?

I think the women did really, really well while the men underperformed.

The women Juniors and U23 did well and if that crew of juniors can continue and progress we could have great strength in depth. Mary Cullen will be even more determined to medal in Dublin '09 and with Fionnuala there it could be very exciting.

The men were more disappointing. The juniors probably did as well as expected but there is no stand out there. Aside of McCarthy, the U23 was probably the same while Fagan was looking great until the fall. Hard to know would he have medalled but a bronze could have been in the offing although Lebid was class.

I thought it was very poor overall from an Irish point of view. Junior women did well. Junior men were worse than I expected with none pulling out a big performance. Not sure what happened Quinn. Did he collapse from his mad start or did he trip or what. Regarding his selection, having never even raced the top juiors in Ireland, how could he be expected to race well against the best in Europe.

Under 23 men were below what I was expecting. I was impressed by Richard Yeates. I thought it was a very bad decision to pick him but it was either very inspired or a very lucky choice. Nice to see him put in a good performance anyway. None of the under23 women set the world on fire. Aisling Baker was well ahead of 3rd place from the trial so that does go towards justifying her selection - I do think it sends out a bad message regarding proving your fitness/running the trial.

The senior women were unimpressive apart from Cullen. Senior men were below par apart from McCormack. Christie had another shocker. Mark Carroll ran as I expected, would have rathered to see McAllister there but them's the breaks!

The selections that weren't based on the trial were:
Ciara Mageean - worked out very well
Tara Jameson - didn't work out well but quite possibly as good as anyone else would have done
Shane Quinn - dropped out, not sure why. Started out way too fast in my opinion.
David McCarthy - underperformed but still our first man - unquestionable choice
Richie Yeates - ran very well. Didn't agree with his selection but he pulled it out of the bag nicely.
Hollie Knight - I would have expected an 11th place in NCAAs to be worth more but she was worth her place (if she's Irish)
Aisling Baker - was a long way back but ahead of O'Brien so probably worth her place.
Fagan - disappointing but illness and a bad fall went against him. Still our first man, unquestionable decision to pick him.
Ledwith - disappointing also, but still worth his place.
Carroll - True to form in my opinion. Was picked based on past glories that he had shown no signs of repeating.

I think a stronger emphasis on the inter-counties results in picking the team would be a better idea or at least a select few designated cross country races. It seems to me that an under 23 athlete not guaranteed of his/her place on the team would have a better chance of making it by being in the States running races that are difficult to compare with othres rather than running the inter-counties.

I realise my post is quite negative. Maybe I was expecting a bit much going over but there was plenty of people feeding high expectations over the last few weeks.

myflipflops

Got home from Brussels yesterday (after an epic journey that included seeing Leinster get beaten in Castres!). First up, this was one of the most enjoyable events I've been out. Well organised races on a proper cross country course that was good for spectating. By the time the senior men took the line, the ground had dug up very badly and it was a real test of endurance with mud and hills. I'm already looking forward to Dublin next year.

The Irish didn't perform to the level i thought they would. Mary Cullen was excellent and it's just a shame that she gets nothing to take home as a reward. The rest of the womens team were well back but to be honest, missing Fionnuala Britton and losing Ava Hutchinson the night before, they were a weakened team.

I had high hopes for the mens team but it just never happened on the day. Fagan will be very down about his finish. He goes to these events knowing that he's good enough to be up there. Andrew Ledwith was simply running one race to many (as was David McCarthy). They'll both come back to the champs next year with better chances.

Al McCormack ran a good race and Gary Murray was solid. There was something wrong with Mark Christie, I've watched him run plenty of races (sometimes watching his back as he ran away from me) and he wasn't right on Sunday. He dug in and finished though which was tough but coming in at the back is better than a DNF.

The Mark Carroll selection wasn't a massive success but i now believe that it was a good decision. It was a calculated risk - bring Mark and see if he can get it right or bring Joe Mac who finished 5th in the nationals. Mick Clohessy beat Joe in Tramore and finished in the 30's in the under 23 race. I also thought the selection of Ritchie Yeates was wrong but was delighted to see from run quite well.

Unfortunately i missed the junior girls race but Sara Treacy was a couple of seconds off a top 8 finish and the Ross O'Carroll-Kellys are eligible again next year so it was positive. It's true that there was no standout in the junior boys race but i guarantee this will help bring them through the system. I don't know enough and the Shane Quinn thing to comment on his selection.

All in all, it's a shame not to get home with a medal but there were enough positives there to have cause for optimism.

One interesting point is something one of the senior men said to me on Sunday night. Every single one of the Brisith team went home with at least one medal. Some of them were pretty obvious - the junior womens domination was easy to call (although not a 1-6 sweep!) however look at a team like their Senior Men. They picked up a bronze team medal but on paper looked very weak. They lost a couple of runners to the under 23 race but still got it done. We need to look at the manner in which the British prepar for this championship and learn from them.

thirtyfoot

http://www.athleticsireland.ie/content/?p=5358#more-5358

Lebid has already confirmed he will be running in Dublin '09. The only thing that may stop him is if we get the Dancing Priest out of retirement.