Dublin senior & junior cross country champs

1500mrunner

Well seeing as the marathon questions and congratulations are over its back to slogging out on the grass and mud!

This weekend the Dublin Senior and Junior champs are held in St.Annes park Raheny, there are some really mouth watering races to be had.

Last year Raheny pretty much dominated winning the womens race with Orla O Mahoney and Takine the team tittle with a points tally of 56
(6 to score) and with some major lads missing.

This year it seems like it will be a much closer afair with Mulvey only back from injury, corcoran out. Clonlife never seem to go all out for the dublins but with Mark Keneally going well and a good bet for makin that senior team will clonlife wrestle the team tittle from Raheny IN RAHENY!
But saying that there will be some people hooting for the underdog.

Rathfranham have a very strong team, and they shocked a few people taking 2nd place ahead of clonlife last year and have all there big runners fit and running well. Sean hehir,Barry Minock and Mark Ryan are flying at the minute, but with the 6 to score they will hoping the likes of Paul Fleming and Eoin flyn have strong runs.

Another Underdog will be the Tallagh A.C team spearheaded by Sean Connolly who was a just coming back from an injury when he raced Gerry Farnham but will be hoping for a good run coming into the Nationals and together with Thomas Fitzpatrick,Eoin Dunne and Jeetun(2nd dublin novice last year) they will be hoping of maybe sneaking a medal.

Also the Senior Womens should be a good one, Linda Bynre was watching from the sidelines as the womens race in the gerry farnham went off. Going from her Rathfarnham 5k performance she seemed to be going really well beating Britton by a good bit. With orla O Mahoney back running well and fresh from her 4th place finish in Gerry Farnham with Aoife Byrne and Sportsworlds Aoife Brady it will make for a very close race.

Junior mens race seems to be a highly contested one, if you were going on the form books this year you would have to say David Fitzmaurice and Liam Trimble are the favourites but have stiff competiton from Donore duo Lee van Haeften and John Travers.

Junior women should be an open race, Expect DSD to dominate this race with sinead denny leading the team.

My indivual predicts are as follows
(based on my knowledge they are running)

Senior Women: Linda Bynre, DSD take team tittle
Senior Men: Mark Keneally, Sean Connolly, Alan O brien
Raheny, Rathfarnham,Tallaght
Junior Men: Dave Fitzmaurice(???), Clonlife Take team title from donore
Junior Women: Sinead Denny, DSD take Tittle

Ok well thats basically it, Hopefully a good days racing will be had and hopefully no hangovers from the night before will damper the Atmosphere which will definatly be a great day for racing, Thanks

ecoli

1500mrunner wrote: »

Well seeing as the marathon questions and congratulations are over its back to slogging out on the grass and mud!

This weekend the Dublin Senior and Junior champs are held in St.Annes park Raheny, there are some really mouth watering races to be had.

Last year Raheny pretty much dominated winning the womens race with Orla O Mahoney and Takine the team tittle with a points tally of 56
(6 to score) and with some major lads missing.

This year it seems like it will be a much closer afair with Mulvey only back from injury, corcoran out. Clonlife never seem to go all out for the dublins but with Mark Keneally going well and a good bet for makin that senior team will clonlife wrestle the team tittle from Raheny IN RAHENY!
But saying that there will be some people hooting for the underdog.

Rathfranham have a very strong team, and they shocked a few people taking 2nd place ahead of clonlife last year and have all there big runners fit and running well. Sean hehir,Barry Minock and Mark Ryan are flying at the minute, but with the 6 to score they will hoping the likes of Paul Fleming and Eoin flyn have strong runs.

Another Underdog will be the Tallagh A.C team spearheaded by Sean Connolly who was a just coming back from an injury when he raced Gerry Farnham but will be hoping for a good run coming into the Nationals and together with Thomas Fitzpatrick,Eoin Dunne and Jeetun(2nd dublin novice last year) they will be hoping of maybe sneaking a medal.

Also the Senior Womens should be a good one, Linda Bynre was watching from the sidelines as the womens race in the gerry farnham went off. Going from her Rathfarnham 5k performance she seemed to be going really well beating Britton by a good bit. With orla O Mahoney back running well and fresh from her 4th place finish in Gerry Farnham with Aoife Byrne and Sportsworlds Aoife Brady it will make for a very close race.

Junior mens race seems to be a highly contested one, if you were going on the form books this year you would have to say David Fitzmaurice and Liam Trimble are the favourites but have stiff competiton from Donore duo Lee van Haeften and John Travers.

Junior women should be an open race, Expect DSD to dominate this race with sinead denny leading the team.

My indivual predicts are as follows
(based on my knowledge they are running)

Senior Women: Linda Bynre, DSD take team tittle
Senior Men: Mark Keneally, Sean Connolly, Alan O brien
Raheny, Rathfarnham,Tallaght
Junior Men: Dave Fitzmaurice(???), Clonlife Take team title from donore
Junior Women: Sinead Denny, DSD take Tittle

Ok well thats basically it, Hopefully a good days racing will be had and hopefully no hangovers from the night before will damper the Atmosphere which will definatly be a great day for racing, Thanks

1) Boards is in bad need of spell check.
2) Senior Mens: feel that Mick Clohisey deserves a mention to be up their challenging. 4th last year and 4th in this years Gerry Farnan beating Sean Connolly. Depending on whether he does it, last years winner Al McCormack another one to look out for.
In the team can't see Tallaght up there realistically Clonliffe plan to field a strong team unlike last year and will be battling for one of the top spots not to mention DSD fielding a strong enough team to get top 4.
In the Juniors Liam Tremble to take on Travers with Fitzmaurice as dark horse but realistically taking up one of the minor placings

Mr Mister

ecoli wrote: »

1) Boards is in bad need of spell check.

Lets not get ratty over some small spelling mistakes.

Overall a very good review 1500mrunner. Agree with many of your predictions. Heard rumours that Mark Kenneally may not be running though and as ecoli said Mick Clohisey should be in the mix. Would put Sean Hehir in the mix too after a good showing at Gerry Farnan.

The team race is going to come down to who packs the best so that means 4th, 5th and 6th team scorers are going to be key. Would think its going to be tight between Raheny, Clonliffe and Rathfarnham.

Maria McCambridge should be in the mix in the womens (thats if she still runs for DSD?). Should be a good days racing and lets hope the weather picks up a little.

What time do the races kick off at does anyone know?

bazman

Good review indeed from 1500mrunner - hopefully it gets some discussion going on what will be some fantastic races - can't wait
Mick Clohisey actually came 2nd last year and definitely deserves a mention.
Not sure if Keneally is running, but if he does he's going to be hard stop ...
Wonder will anyone who completed marathon last week be tempted to run - has to be almost impossible to recover on time - will impact DSD & Clonliffe IMO.
Maria McCambridge is running to my knowledge, but not with DSD.

kennyb3

what time is this on and what part of the park? might pop down

limericklion

Mark Kenneally according to the cloniffe harriers website is not on the team and hense wont be running. I agree with bazman the claw on his home turf will be difficult to beat. Raheny in general will be slightly weaker due to the fact that Mulvey and Corcaran wont be running as they are building base again while Mark Kirwan is only back serious training after injury. Alan McCormack won the race last year and has not run this year so far so it will be interesting to see how he does if he races. Judging by the Gerry Farnan performances by the top two McCormack if he aspires to make the Irish team will need to win well as that what Kenneally would have done. I think Rathfarnan will take the mens team as they will run as a pack. As bazman will know the team had a workout on the course last saturday so they are taking it very seriously. Just wondering bazman sense you are commenting on this page what sort of taper would you take for such a race or do you train straight through until national week. It would be interesting to hear the views of a top distance athlete.

bazman

limericklion wrote: »

Just wondering bazman sense you are commenting on this page what sort of taper would you take for such a race or do you train straight through until national week.

Have been training harder than ever before recently, but nice taper this week.
Mon: Easy bike spin
Tue: 55 min easy
Wed: 6 x 1k @ race pace
Thur: 50 min easy, with 6 x 200m @ race pace
Fri: 30 min very easy
Sat: 20 min very easy
Sun: RACE, RACE, RACE

limericklion

Thats great you seem to do two main things during race week. Firstly acustomize yourself with target race pace but perhaps more importantly recovery for the race itself. Have you upped your mileage recently or just improved the intensity of your workouts as you stated that you are training harder than ever before perhaps ready for a top ten in november. Thanks for posting

Racing Flat

Has it not changed back to 4 to score?

Raighne

Racing Flat wrote: »

Has it not changed back to 4 to score?

I think its still 6. We are trying to get a full complement of 12 runners in (unlikely but worth a shot!). Squads that size indicate its 6 to score I'd say.

YoungDreamer

junior men...., i dont think john travers wil be runnin on sunday.

thirstywork

If it was on the road in Raheny(junior 5mile record holder and national 10k champ)sean connolly would be the clear favourite.
If the rain keeps coming then the Claw would be my favourite.Sean Heir if he runs controlled can be in the shout for a bronze.
Raheny will win the team ahead of Rathfarnam ac with Clonliffe 3rd.Alan Mcormack as defending champion would be in the shake up and if DSD can get Rob Connolly,Matthews,Eves ect then they might be in the shake up for a medal.(has Joe Sweeney retired?)

Woddle

I wouldn't expect to see John Eves I think the Dublin marathon took an awful lot out of him.

1500mrunner

Well i apologise if my spelling wasnt up to your high standards ecoli, I hadnt realised I was back in school

As for Mick not getting a mention im sorry for that two i do belive he will be in the mix for sure but i didnt want to mention everyone. If its muddy id back alan brien he seems to run great is bad conditions and is looking very good so far this year (flotrack workout was great, Track looks great).
Id have to say IF alan mc cormack runs i wouldnt say he would be in the mix he hasnt raced at all this year. He possibly could be battling for minor places, but when he is in shape like last year he is a serious contender.
Id agree that if this race was on the road Sean Connolly would be fancied, I still think he has the beating of many of the lads out there, I mean that in the best possible way Sean didnt have a great day and since then he has been training hard. Would love to see him take the win

As for the team tittle i take back my statement about who will take it.
I still think that Raheny and Clonlife arent at all full strength and will have to pull something big out of the bag to beat Rathfarnham. they are looking very strong this year but the 4th,5th and 6th runners for all teams this weekend are goin to be so important and I think having 6 to score is a much better way to decide team tittles

Anyways I hope to be watching this and shouting on my club. Hopefully a few more, cross country this year seems better this year then ever before with the euros coming up its great to be apart of the atmosphere!

thirtyfoot

ecoli wrote: »

1) Boards is in bad need of spell check.

ecoli wrote: »

In the team can't see Tallaght up there realistically Clonliffe plan to field a strong team unlike last year and will be battling for one of the top spots not to mention DSD fielding a strong enough team to get top 4.

Does spell check do punctuation?;)

ecoli

Tingle wrote: »

Does spell check do punctuation?;)

Point taken. Sorry about that guys, I hadnt had my morning coffee

shels4ever

thirstywork wrote: »

sean connolly would be the clear favourite.

Yep Think he's jsut back form injury but looks very strong in training , Should be a good race tomorrow , Trying to get out of work now to make it..

limericklion

Regarding the other races tomorrow the junior mens is very interesting particulary given the recent performance by the cloniffe junior Fitzsmaurice. His time for the 6k course in the Dublin novice was excellent so much so judging by the results that I thought he was a key member of the Cloniffe Senior mens team. For those of you who ran the dublin novice what was the course like because on this sort of form he will win the junior nationals in my opinion leaving the junior mens team for the euros most interesting given that Tremble, McBreathy defeated Ward in the Gerry Farnan and Shane Quinn unfortunatley dropping out.
Back to the senior womens Maria runs with Letterkenny AC where she and her husband Gary Crossan live, most of you probably knew so if shes runs it would have to be as a guest whick Im not sure they allow in Dublin Seniors.

Racing Flat

limericklion wrote: »

For those of you who ran the dublin novice what was the course like

Probably about 200m short. But then again, his time was more or less the same as Alan O'Brien ran on much the same course last year. Was dry, good for running.

Re McCambridge - I think you can run in the Co. Champs of either the county that you were born, or the county where your club is but you can only run one County Champs a year...

bazman

limericklion wrote: »

Back to the senior womens Maria runs with Letterkenny AC where she and her husband Gary Crossan live, most of you probably knew so if shes runs it would have to be as a guest whick Im not sure they allow in Dublin Seniors.

Maria runs with Letterkenny AC, but runs for Dublin in the inter-counties. I not sure what the official rules are, but to me you should be allowed to run in the county championship of county you represent. To my knowledge she has applied for and received an official (non-guest) entry for tomorrow and so will take home a medal if she gets a podium finish.

Contentious

limericklion wrote: »

Regarding the other races tomorrow the junior mens is very interesting particulary given the recent performance by the cloniffe junior Fitzsmaurice. .

Should be an interesting junior race. With Fitzmaurice in the form of his life he should be well able ot overcome his younger rivals of tremble and travers(if running) both of whom will still be juniors in 2010.

downthemiddle

1500mrunner wrote: »

Junior women should be an open race, Expect DSD to dominate this race with sinead denny leading the team.

My indivual predicts are as follows
(based on my knowledge they are running)


Junior Women: Sinead Denny, DSD take Tittle

Tekea Gebrezgi to win the Junior Women with Celtic DCH to shade the team.

gmurran

Anyone know what the drainiage is like in Raheny. Will this race be allowed to go ahead if it destroys a public park

shels4ever

any results ?

downthemiddle

Tekea Gebrezgi impressive winner of junior women from Fiona McKenna and Niamh Denny. Emmet Jennings won junior men in good battle with Clonliffe athlete (Fitzmaurice I think) and Liam Tremble third with Maria McCambridge very impressive in winning senior women from Orla O'Mahoney and Ciara Durkan.

bazman

Senior men was Connolly, O'Neill, Clohisey, O'Brien, Minnock, Ryan, Hehir, O'Leary, ?, ?, Flynn, Kirwan ... not sure
Rathfarnham took team title by just 3 points!

gmurran

Well done Rathfarnham. Never been covered in so much mud...:) Thankfully I didn't finish last but I did have a few why wont my legs move any faster moments.

thirtyfoot

bazman wrote: »

Rathfarnham took team title by just 3 points!

Well done!!!

Slogger Jogger

Tingle wrote: »

Well done!!!

+1 to that.

shels4ever

bazman wrote: »

Senior men was Connolly, O'Neil, Clohisey, O'Brien, Minnock, Ryan, Hehir, ... not sure
Rathfarnham took team title by just 3 points!

Well done bazman

Stupid_Private

bazman wrote: »

Senior men was Connolly, O'Neill, Clohisey, O'Brien, Minnock, Ryan, Hehir, O'Leary, ?, ?, Flynn, Kirwan ... not sure
Rathfarnham took team title by just 3 points!

Fair play - I was wondering how the team prizes went


Photo by Lindie Naughton

There's about 150 photos from the races already here. I've some more to add but house is about to start so that'll have to wait a while!

Woddle

Nice singlets and having their names on it is a nice touch.

deadlybuzz

Results are on Dublin Athletics website.
Well done Rathfarnham.

thirstywork

Just a quick question but if Maria Mcambridge was running for Letterkenny
is she then not eligible???on all the reports it says she was the winner of the Dublin Title.I know she is from ublin and ran for Dsd.

thirstywork

also great to see Brendan O neill back with a bang(on his birthday)
and Neil Cowzer had one of the runs of the day.
Great to see Rathfarnham/Wsaf win the title.

TheRoomWrecker

thirstywork wrote: »

also great to see Brendan O neill back with a bang(on his birthday)
and Neil Cowzer had one of the runs of the day.
Great to see Rathfarnham/Wsaf win the title.

there was some great racing there, Connelly looked very smooth and strong at the front, Great team performance from the Rathfarnham boys,

finish of the day was between Phelim Kelly and Paul Fleming priceless!!

Mr Mister

thirstywork wrote: »

also great to see Brendan O neill back with a bang(on his birthday)
and Neil Cowzer had one of the runs of the day.
Great to see Rathfarnham/Wsaf win the title.

Think Neil Cowzer may have been a one Peter Matthews. Great run from Brendan O'Neill alright. Should be a shoe-in for u23 team

thirstywork

I was abit suprised matthews was that far back,that explains it alright.

guapos

could anyone give me a rough idea of the course?

ecoli

guapos wrote: »

could anyone give me a rough idea of the course?

St. Annes Park Raheny. Very muddy due to the weather. Relatively flat with one significant hill. 2k loop with part of the course going into sheltered forest area which is designed as a BMX course

okidoki987

Very muddy due to the weather

Also due to all the jnr races held in the morning