Irish Inter-club XC championships

Rineanna

Held today in Phoenix Park.

Linda Byrne takes her first title, while Siobhan O'Doherty took second and Annette Kealy third.

Mark Kenneally takes the men's title, Thornton second and Murray third. O'Neill was fourth, and, interestingly, Thomas Chamney beat off a couple of mroe established XC runners, like O'Brien adn Clohessy.

Travers delights the home crowd with a Junior men's win.

robinph

Did anybody else see Stewart on the course today.

Just getting to uploading my pics now, but should be appearing soon...

xebec

Race report and results on Athletics Ireland website...

robinph

Pictures from the Junior Womens race now uploaded.



Edit: Bah, something not right on the link there. If you do a search on that page for "juniorwomen" then the pictures do come up though.

thirtyfoot

Great for Kenneally to get his first national cross title. Clonliffe men with 7 in a row - surely second now only to the great Donore teams as regards domination of the event.

Edit: Forgot to add we should now call this the Dublin Inter-Clubs as 10 of the 12 team prizes went to Dublin clubs. Granted its hosted in Dublin but that won't matter. Dick Hooper article in Irish Runners talks a lot of sense. To those non-Dublin clubs who entered and scored with 4, fair play.

emerald007

the original National Inter-clubs XC thread

Kiptanui

The national inter clubs has lost its stature as the premium cross country event of the calander. This needs to be recognised and addressed. Today there were 55 finishers in the junior events. Both Intermediate and senior schools for both girls and guys will have more than this next saturday.

With places up for grabs on the European team the inter counties is now the focus of the domestic calander. This is logical as athletes can aspire to being competitive in the Euro Cross and this is annual. The world cross is every second year and teams may or may not be sent so the committment is not there to the nationals.

Fair play to Mark Kenneally - he's a warrior.
Fair play to Chris Cariss for taking the annual Ryanair flight. Pity Josephat Boit couldn't make the party.

It is a great Clonliffe team, fair play to them. Did any of them ever don the clonliffe singlet as juniors or were they all recruited to the sport in their 20's??;)

robinph

What club is this?



I'm sure I've seen them some where before, but I cannot read their tops and none of those wearing that vest appear in the program from today.

Kiptanui

This athlete is Mary Margaret Meade from North Belfast Harriers.

In her youth she ran in the colours of North Cork and was coached by Fr Liam Kelleher. Great to see her participating and running quite well.

thirtyfoot

Kiptanui wrote: »

Fair play to Mark Kenneally - he's a warrior.
Fair play to Chris Cariss for taking the annual Ryanair flight. Pity Josephat Boit couldn't make the party.

It is a great Clonliffe team, fair play to them. Did any of them ever don the clonliffe singlet as juniors or were they all recruited to the sport in their 20's??;)

Cool, I thought my justified gloating of the Magnificent 7 would get a reaction from you;) Bring back Dave Taylor I hear you cry....

Chris was on here on boards last year in person explaining his position and his reason for running for Clonliffe and Ireland. Pretty admirable if I can remember. If you didn't read it, pity it was inspiring. He was obviously there today and if you were there you could have mentioned your issues with his running for Clonliffe (thats if I am reading you right and you have issues) to him after the race. Chris is as much a warrior as Kenneally if you know the background.

Don't think any of the Clonliffe scorers ran as juniors. Is that a prerequisite, I'm not sure? You might want to check the rulebooks there on that one. I know we could go down the route of the Raheny philosophy of one club, one life, one shot whatever that Eminem song is that is blared out when the three wise men arrive to the scene of the next great 4 leafed Shamrock that is lucky enough to be born under a bush in St Annes, but hey, where is the craic in that.

While you are checking if running as a junior is needed to run for a club as a senior and are getting bogged down in rules and constitutions and that lark, maybe click on the below for some light musical accompaniment to help pass the time!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9iteRKvRKFA

If you look closely at the pic that is Kenneally on the horse in the middle, with the rest of the mercernaries and hired gunmen brought in to help stop the unruly Mexicans (Raheny) from overrunning that small town with the lovely bell tower making up the rest of the numbers. Only difference is the horses would be pie-balds on hire from Ballymun.

thirtyfoot

Kiptanui wrote: »

This athlete is Mary Margaret Meade from North Belfast Harriers.

In her youth she ran in the colours of North Cork and was coached by Fr Liam Kelleher. Great to see her participating and running quite well.

Do you think it would be better for MMM to be running for North Cork and maybe inspring the many kids down there instead of plying her trade with North Belfast, a club she never ran for as a junior?

Kiptanui

Tingle wrote: »

Do you think it would be better for MMM to be running for North Cork and maybe inspring the many kids down there instead of plying her trade with North Belfast, a club she never ran for as a junior?

Mary Margaret has resided in Belfast for quite some time now so she can run there without any query from you or me. She lives in Belfast and runs for a club there. End of. North Cork AC is not in existance any more so your point (once again) is totally irrelevant.

robinph

Kiptanui wrote: »

This athlete is Mary Margaret Meade from North Belfast Harriers.

In her youth she ran in the colours of North Cork and was coached by Fr Liam Kelleher. Great to see her participating and running quite well.

Thanks for that, resolves a few unknown runners that I needed to tag the clubs for.

I've still got another pile of pictures to go through yet, but I've had enough for today so the rest of the senior mens pictures will have to wait until I get round to them tomorrow some time. For now there is this lot though:

Junior Women
Junior Men
Senior Women
Senior Men

Stupid_Private

robinph wrote: »

Thanks for that, resolves a few unknown runners that I needed to tag the clubs for.

I've still got another pile of pictures to go through yet, but I've had enough for today so the rest of the senior mens pictures will have to wait until I get round to them tomorrow some time. For now there is this lot though:

Junior Women
Junior Men
Senior Women
Senior Men

Great stuff Robinph - some of them starting shots are deadly.

thirtyfoot

Kiptanui wrote: »

Mary Margaret has resided in Belfast for quite some time now so she can run there without any query from you or me. She lives in Belfast and runs for a club there. End of. North Cork AC is not in existance any more so your point (once again) is totally irrelevant.

Ok, fair enough, thats fine, just seemed a little inconsistent with some of your opinions and I know you are a stickler (with me anyway) for consistent arguments:p So MM is untouchable but CC is fair game to have a pop at? She lives in the UK too.

Did you like the You Tube embed. Gloating about Clonliffe and taking the p*ss out of Clonliffe at the same time. I really enjoyed it even though I posted it myself. I am replaying the music over and over again and reading the thread.

PS: Just trying to get a bit of craic around here, its been dead here of late!!!

robinph

Stupid_Private wrote: »

Great stuff Robinph - some of them starting shots are deadly.

I do have a few shots of you, but they will have to wait for now so don't feel left out.



I did catch one of the clubs practicing their syncronised dance routine:



A couple of the lads really were not paying attention to the instructions though and kept on facing the wrong way. They will never make it onto Ireland's Got Talent* with that kind of team work.

* TV program may not exist.

thirtyfoot

Stupid_Private wrote: »

some of them starting shots are deadly.

Yes, very Braveheart-esque.

Kiptanui

Tingle wrote: »

Cool, I thought my justified gloating of the Magnificent 7 would get a reaction from you;) Bring back Dave Taylor I hear you cry....

Chris was on here on boards last year in person explaining his position and his reason for running for Clonliffe and Ireland. Pretty admirable if I can remember. If you didn't read it, pity it was inspiring. He was obviously there today and if you were there you could have mentioned your issues with his running for Clonliffe (thats if I am reading you right and you have issues) to him after the race. Chris is as much a warrior as Kenneally if you know the background.

Don't think any of the Clonliffe scorers ran as juniors. Is that a prerequisite, I'm not sure? You might want to check the rulebooks there on that one. I know we could go down the route of the Raheny philosophy of one club, one life, one shot whatever that Eminem song is that is blared out when the three wise men arrive to the scene of the next great 4 leafed Shamrock that is lucky enough to be born under a bush in St Annes, but hey, where is the craic in that.

While you are checking if running as a junior is needed to run for a club as a senior and are getting bogged down in rules and constitutions and that lark, maybe click on the below for some light musical accompaniment to help pass the time!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9iteRKvRKFA

If you look closely at the pic that is Kenneally on the horse in the middle, with the rest of the mercernaries and hired gunmen brought in to help stop the unruly Mexicans (Raheny) from overrunning that small town with the lovely bell tower making up the rest of the numbers. Only difference is the horses would be pie-balds on hire from Ballymun.

I never mentioned Raheny, have no allegiance to them so your jibes at them have no impact on me!! As gracious as ever I see but nobody would expect any more from you. Just your humour again I suppose (many would call it nonsense but hey, each to their own)

I don't have to trawl the results of yesteryear to tell you that none of the A team ran for clonliffe as juniors. Its not a pre-requisite so well done in the transfer market!!

I know about Cariss and his misfortune in the Bradford fire. He is a decent athlete but has as much connection with Clonliffe as you have with Belgrave Harriers!! He does come over once a year though, do the job. I have no beef with him. There is a recession out there. You have to get a few quid where you can .....

When I think of Clonliffe distance runners I think of Noel Cullen or Noel Harvey. Killian Lonergan too. Not someone who runs one race a year for them. Or someone with no allegiance but still runs for them from a base in Clonmel?

Maybe play your youtube clip on a thursday night in santry with Chris Cariss, Sergio and Josephat Boit are storming round the track. Or maybe look up at the sky for a blue moon - there's more chance of seeing one of them!!:D

Condo131

Tingle wrote: »

Do you think it would be better for MMM to be running for North Cork and maybe inspring the many kids down there instead of plying her trade with North Belfast, a club she never ran for as a junior?

Unfortunately, afaik, North Cork AC is no more.

downthemiddle

I'm glad to see someone is still passionate about the inter clubs. It is time for a revamp. Small fields in what should be our prestige event shows the timing of the event is not working.The inter counties are now the bigger event. While there were good winners in all events there was no strength in depth. The junior womans field was particularly poor, speaking of which someone needs their ass kicked for allowing a 14 yr old to compete, win and then get disqualified for being too young. Poor form from her coach and officials.
I would have had reservations in the past about athletes like Chris Cariss. However I was impressed by his posts here last year. He came across very well and seemed genuine in his motivation. It's easy to sling mud but at least he showed up unlike most of our top athletes.

Kiptanui

Tingle wrote: »

Ok, fair enough, thats fine, just seemed a little inconsistent with some of your opinions and I know you are a stickler (with me anyway) for consistent arguments:p So MM is untouchable but CC is fair game to have a pop at? She lives in the UK too.

Clubs anywhere on the Island of Ireland are eligible to compete in the Inter Clubs. CC and MM are totally different cases. Pointing out that she lives in the UK is ridiculous. She runs for her local club who are eligible to compete. I'm also sure it won't be another year before she dons the club singlet again!!

As I said, not having a pop at CC. When all is said and done its a days work for a days pay. Its a recession, I have no problem with that. Athletes have to make ends meet too.

Enjoy the win! Congrats to all concerned but I'm sure the staunch Clonliffe members would prefer to have the likes of Derek Watters and Shane Dowler landing the spoils rather than CC and co?

Kiptanui

downthemiddle wrote: »

I would have had reservations in the past about athletes like Chris Cariss. However I was impressed by his posts here last year. He came across very well and seemed genuine in his motivation. It's easy to sling mud but at least he showed up unlike most of our top athletes.

The reason many of our top athletes didn't show up is that this event is no longer a priority. Perhaps the calander could be changed and the Inter clubs run before christmas instead of the inter counties as the Euro Cross trial? That way it would deservedly be the highest profile domestic cross country event again. You cant blame the athletes either. Hazel Murphy, Deirdre Byrne or Mary Cullen were never going to run today for example.And could you blame them?

thirtyfoot

Kiptanui wrote: »

I never mentioned Raheny, have no allegiance to them so your jibes at them have no impact on me!! As gracious as ever I see but nobody would expect any more from you. Just your humour again I suppose (many would call it nonsense but hey, each to their own)

I don't have to trawl the results of yesteryear to tell you that none of the A team ran for clonliffe as juniors. Its not a pre-requisite so well done in the transfer market!!

I know about Cariss and his misfortune in the Bradford fire. He is a decent athlete but has as much connection with Clonliffe as you have with Belgrave Harriers!! He does come over once a year though, do the job. I have no beef with him. There is a recession out there. You have to get a few quid where you can .....

When I think of Clonliffe distance runners I think of Noel Cullen or Noel Harvey. Killian Lonergan too. Not someone who runs one race a year for them. Or someone with no allegiance but still runs for them from a base in Clonmel?

Maybe play your youtube clip on a thursday night in santry with Chris Cariss, Sergio and Josephat Boit are storming round the track. Or maybe look up at the sky for a blue moon - there's more chance of seeing one of them!!:D

I know you aren't Raheny, I wasn't trying to have a jibe. I don't know any of the Raheny distance lads but know a few of the sprinters. We have great craic slagging each other, all very friendly (and juvenile:eek:) and much along the lines of what I had here.

Look, I know you think I am juvenile and have a very immature sense of humour. I do and I know you don't get it. I am an idiot, a messer, a clown and I don't take things too seriously (well most of the time). Interestingly, the things I have a big gra for - Clonliffe and sprinters - really don't float your boat so we clash.

I won't play Magificent 7 next Thursday but will play this song at your suggestion as I wait at the clubhouse waiting for the boys to arrive in their hire car. Its the Chris Isaak version, I think you'll like it. Kinda sombre and grown up.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NuCZDanw3aE

PS: I could play the Man City version but that would raise similarities to a club 'paying' for success and we don't want to do that, do we;)

TheRoadRunner

Kiptanui wrote: »

Clonliffe members would prefer to have the likes of Derek Watters and Shane Dowler landing the spoils rather than CC and co?

There's 2 blasts from the past. They were a couple of years ahead of me but when I was 15/16 I was in awe of those 2 lads. Pity they fell away as they were both great runners.

thirtyfoot

Kiptanui wrote: »

As I said, not having a pop at CC. When all is said and done its a days work for a days pay. Its a recession, I have no problem with that. Athletes have to make ends meet too.

Dude, you are taking this too personally saying that CC is mainly doing this for money yet claiming you ain't having a pop, all juvenile joking aside. At least I don't pretend to be mature or gracious about this. Just let it go, its only sport and to say he runs for Clonliffe to make ends meet, I don't know, sad.

I'm off to bed.

thirtyfoot

downthemiddle wrote: »

The junior womans field was particularly poor, speaking of which someone needs their ass kicked for allowing a 14 yr old to compete, win and then get disqualified for being too young. Poor form from her coach and officials.

Yes very much so.

http://www.rte.ie/sport/athletics/2010/0307/crosscountry_kenneallym_byrnel.html

Controversy reigned in the junior women's event, where Siofra Clerigh Buttner of Dundrum South Dublin Athletic Club led the field a merry dance only to be disqualified when it was discovered that at the tender age of 14 she was too young to compete in this competition over 6,000 metres.

It is understood that Clerigh Buttner was not on the original DSD team sheet as club officials understood that she was not eligible for the event. She was only added to the team on the morning of the race.

If they knew she was in eligible then they shouldn't have entered her in on the day. She was also wearing the number of a team mate on the official startlist, whether that was an accident or not. Deprived Mary Mulhare the chance of 'winning' the race and standing on top of the podium.

Can't wait for the Joe Duffy Show this afternoon to hear about this one.........

Airmail 1

Tingle are you for real? 'She lives in the UK too.' Are you deliberately trying to wind people up here in the North. Get a grip, Belfast is as much Irish, in my eyes, as Cork or Dublin. Stop trying to be divisive!

thirtyfoot

Airmail 1 wrote: »

Tingle are you for real? 'She lives in the UK too.' Are you deliberately trying to wind people up here in the North. Get a grip, Belfast is as much Irish, in my eyes, as Cork or Dublin. Stop trying to be divisive!

I wasn't being serious. Apologies if you took me up wrong, wasn't trying to be divisive on that topic, I think the athletics approach to Northern Ireland is a good one, athletes can choose who they want to compete with.

echat

Anyone know why the schools/colleges and inter-clubs are being held only 6 days apart, bound to have affected yesterday's turnout. Nice course and very well organised yesterday.

aburke

Tingle wrote: »

Edit: Forgot to add we should now call this the Dublin Inter-Clubs as 10 of the 12 team prizes went to Dublin clubs. Granted its hosted in Dublin but that won't matter.

No thanks Tingle, We're happy enough for it to remain a National event.

Tingle wrote: »

To those non-Dublin clubs who entered and scored with 4, fair play.

Thanks!

Kiptanui wrote: »

The national inter clubs has lost its stature as the premium cross country event of the calander. This needs to be recognised and addressed.

Agreed. At all levels of the field there was a lack of depth - top middle and bottom.

Kiptanui wrote: »

With places up for grabs on the European team the inter counties is now the focus of the domestic calander. This is logical as athletes can aspire to being competitive in the Euro Cross and this is annual. The world cross is every second year and teams may or may not be sent so the committment is not there to the nationals.

In the mens, 109 Finishers yesterday vs 131 Finishers in Kilbeggan. Not a huge difference in numbers participating.

Kiptanui wrote: »

The reason many of our top athletes didn't show up is that this event is no longer a priority. Perhaps the calander could be changed and the Inter clubs run before christmas instead of the inter counties as the Euro Cross trial? That way it would deservedly be the highest profile domestic cross country event again. You cant blame the athletes either. Hazel Murphy, Deirdre Byrne or Mary Cullen were never going to run today for example.And could you blame them?

I don't know why the top guys aren't taking part.
The top 3 in the Adare 10km yesterday would not have been out of place in Dublin yesterday. Liam Reale and Rosemary Ryan won the respective events there.

From my own club perspective - we managed to get a mens team out by
a) Threats
b) Not revealing how fast the race was :-)

People are happy to represent our club - but don't fancy being lapped.
A 3 km or even 4 km loop would avoid that, but it much harder to stage that event then. I've stated before that the English XC is a mass participation event, about 1500 runners.
http://boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=62681200#post62681200

It might be time for me to 'piss or get off the pot' and see whether the AAI would really want an event of this size for this race, or would they prefer 50 fast lads and leave the likes of me out of it.

ecoli

Tingle wrote: »

Yes very much so.

http://www.rte.ie/sport/athletics/2010/0307/crosscountry_kenneallym_byrnel.html



If they knew she was in eligible then they shouldn't have entered her in on the day. She was also wearing the number of a team mate on the official startlist, whether that was an accident or not. Deprived Mary Mulhare the chance of 'winning' the race and standing on top of the podium.

Can't wait for the Joe Duffy Show this afternoon to hear about this one.........

This could be to do with the tightening down on age groups over the past cross country season. I know their team for the Novices was sent back when first sent in as a result of many of the team being too young. This could be seen as a way to get around the bureacracy
I can understand this when it comes to the juvenile ages where an athlete cannot skip up two age groups as hey still have the opportunity to run in their own age and the age above but in relation to this i dont feel the rule should stand when it denies athletes entry to a race due to what can only be described as ageism as her ability shows she was perfectly able to compete at that level. We should be encouraging our athletes to participate no shunning them.
Take this athlete for example if she goes on to the international level it will have ramifications on her views of the race, thus creating a vicious cycle of the race losing its high class reputation as in the past, one which many of the people in the sport (and here) wish to restore it to its original glory

dna_leri

ecoli wrote: »

This could be to do with the tightening down on age groups over the past cross country season. I know their team for the Novices was sent back when first sent in as a result of many of the team being too young. This could be seen as a way to get around the bureacracy
I can understand this when it comes to the juvenile ages where an athlete cannot skip up two age groups as hey still have the opportunity to run in their own age and the age above but in relation to this i dont feel the rule should stand when it denies athletes entry to a race due to what can only be described as ageism as her ability shows she was perfectly able to compete at that level. We should be encouraging our athletes to participate no shunning them.
Take this athlete for example if she goes on to the international level it will have ramifications on her views of the race, thus creating a vicious cycle of the race losing its high class reputation as in the past, one which many of the people in the sport (and here) wish to restore it to its original glory

Is it appropriate for a 12 year old to run a 8K race, a 14 year old to run a 10K race? Regardless of their ability, it is appropriate for the AAI to have rules regarding what races juveniles can compete at, for the childrens own good if nothing else.

I think these rules are well-understood and also the reasons for having them. It will be intersting to see what sanction is applied to the club for fielding an ineligible athlete?

shels4ever

dna_leri wrote: »

Is it appropriate for a 12 year old to run a 8K race, a 14 year old to run a 10K race? Regardless of their ability, it is appropriate for the AAI to have rules regarding what races juveniles can compete at, for the childrens own good if nothing else.

I think these rules are well-understood and also the reasons for having them. It will be intersting to see what sanction is applied to the club for fielding an ineligible athlete?

+1

Just because some girls are capable doenst mean the rule needs to be changed.

brutes1

Senior mens race at least had a good turnout, but am fairly sure it was short by 0.5k at least, great course, fast and testing , and good to see GT getting a medal .. This is a great race and surely all clubs should be requested to field teams, would make it all the more competitive all the way through the field.

shels4ever

I really enjoyed the day, Super race. The debate about the number of laps is a good one, lots of traffice for Mark on the last lap. Think I'll have to up my game and try to make it for this race next year.

ecoli

dna_leri wrote: »

Is it appropriate for a 12 year old to run a 8K race, a 14 year old to run a 10K race? Regardless of their ability, it is appropriate for the AAI to have rules regarding what races juveniles can compete at, for the childrens own good if nothing else.

I think these rules are well-understood and also the reasons for having them. It will be intersting to see what sanction is applied to the club for fielding an ineligible athlete?

For starter this was a 6k race not 8 or 10. I think that getting kids to enjoy running from an early age is important and if we look to Lydiards teaching he actually emphasizes the importance of getting kids running miles from young age.
Granted his idea is that these should all be done easy and not too much anaerobic work but the fact is that there is too much importance put on racing at a young age in this country but surely these kinds of races are more beneficial to a young athlete than the weekly track races which are carried out during the summer.
Irish distance is in a decline and i think that this needs to be addressed and the current set up scutinized. I am not for running athletes into the ground and burning them out dont get me wrong but i feel that more emphasis on these kinds of races and less of track is not only good for the sport in the long run but also good for the development of the athletes

http://lydiardfoundation.org/pdfs/al_lecture.pdf

robinph

I might have rearranged what I was doing a bit if I'd known it was on, although you would probably have had to disguise the fact it was seniors from me as getting lapped that many times would not appeal especially. Also maybe keep it quiet about it being 12k too.

Next year.

mrak

brutes1 wrote: »

Senior mens race at least had a good turnout, but am fairly sure it was short by 0.5k at least, great course, fast and testing , and good to see GT getting a medal .. This is a great race and surely all clubs should be requested to field teams, would make it all the more competitive all the way through the field.

Delighted to see GT's medal. If you mixed Brute's and Aburke's suggestions and had longer laps and mandatory teams from each club you could have something really interesting. (I think we would have been hard pressed to get a team out last weekend that said.)

shels4ever

ecoli wrote: »

For starter this was a 6k race not 8 or 10. I think that getting kids to enjoy running from an early age is important and if we look to Lydiards teaching he actually emphasizes the importance of getting kids running miles from young age.
Granted his idea is that these should all be done easy and not too much anaerobic work but the fact is that there is too much importance put on racing at a young age in this country but surely these kinds of races are more beneficial to a young athlete than the weekly track races which are carried out during the summer.
Irish distance is in a decline and i think that this needs to be addressed and the current set up scutinized. I am not for running athletes into the ground and burning them out dont get me wrong but i feel that more emphasis on these kinds of races and less of track is not only good for the sport in the long run but also good for the development of the athletes

http://lydiardfoundation.org/pdfs/al_lecture.pdf

Sounds good on paper but when you think that they needed to reduce the distance in the senior girls (schools) in order to get people to run, I thnk having 14 year old running too far too often will put people off, It may help in the development of some but at that age as you say enjoyment is key.

ecoli

shels4ever wrote: »

Sounds good on paper but when you think that they needed to reduce the distance in the senior girls (schools) in order to get people to run, I thnk having 14 year old running too far too often will put people off, It may help in the development of some but at that age as you say enjoyment is key.

I completely agree but my question is who should dictate this the athlete herself or the AAI. Here we had a girl who wanted to run and was punished for it what i am saying is surely she should have had the choice to run it especially given the fact that there was no race for her own age so she had no other opportunity to run that day. How is telling a girl she cant run encouraging her in the sport?

robinph

If they are able for it then I don't see a problem with kids moving up an age group inorder to get a competitive race. Clearly still not competitive enough though, but has to be better than being limited to just an 800m lap or something within the same age.

shels4ever

ecoli wrote: »

I completely agree but my question is who should dictate this the athlete herself or the AAI. Here we had a girl who wanted to run and was punished for it what i am saying is surely she should have had the choice to run it especially given the fact that there was no race for her own age so she had no other opportunity to run that day. How is telling a girl she cant run encouraging her in the sport?

Has to be set by the AAI , they set rules for reason, They have to think about the general welfare of all the under age runnners and thats why the distance limit is set.(I'm sure the numbr isnt picked at random but must have some work done before these ruls are set.) There is more then enough time for someone to run at junior level.

Just because there are races on doesnt mean you need to run .

TheRoadRunner

ecoli wrote: »

I completely agree but my question is who should dictate this the athlete herself or the AAI. Here we had a girl who wanted to run and was punished for it what i am saying is surely she should have had the choice to run it especially given the fact that there was no race for her own age so she had no other opportunity to run that day. How is telling a girl she cant run encouraging her in the sport?

The AAI, there is a case to be made for burn out. May not happen often but I think of many of my friends who over raced when younger and never improved after a certain age. May not be true in this case but needs to be considered.

ecoli

robinph wrote: »

If they are able for it then I don't see a problem with kids moving up an age group inorder to get a competitive race. Clearly still not competitive enough though, but has to be better than being limited to just an 800m lap or something within the same age.

I would actually say it is better as 800m would require lots of anaerobic work which is detremental to a child as their nervous system has not fully developed as opposed to aerobis work required for longer distances. While i am not say they train for 10ks plus i do feel that at a young age its should be longer slower stuff with minimal speedwork

thirtyfoot

Fair play to DSD on SiofraGate. They realise they made a mistake and put their hands up.

http://www.rte.ie/sport/athletics/2010/0308/junior.html

Peckham

Unfortunately in the eyes of the general public, AAI and athletics generally do not come across particularly well in this. We all understand the reasons behind her disqualification, and how they are there for the protection of younger athletes....however the story comes across to Joe Punter as there being something underhand and fishy going on (yet again in the world of athletics).

I first hear the story on Newstalk Breakfast this morning, where it was very much reported as the athlete being hard done by, and it was wrong of the powers that be to strip her of a medal she'd won fair and square.

epo addict

Fair play to the runner who held up the start of the men's race.. Every athlete lined up gave him a cheer as he ran towards the starting line:) It made all us nervous runners smile before the gun went off. The only one who didn't see the funny side was the race starter.

robinph

There was another lad who turned up even later for the start and was running in the oposite direction as the rest of them disapeared off into the distance. He got o within about 50m of the start line and decided not to bother and just turned round and statd chasing down the rest of them.

Milesandmiles

Peckham wrote: »

Unfortunately in the eyes of the general public, AAI and athletics generally do not come across particularly well in this. We all understand the reasons behind her disqualification, and how they are there for the protection of younger athletes....however the story comes across to Joe Punter as there being something underhand and fishy going on (yet again in the world of athletics).

I first hear the story on Newstalk Breakfast this morning, where it was very much reported as the athlete being hard done by, and it was wrong of the powers that be to strip her of a medal she'd won fair and square.

I hear what you're saying. Maybe AAI should make some sort of statement explaining why the rule is there - to protect talented young athletes. To give them a better chance to make it so senior ranks and perform when it really matters. The GAA get such bad press about placing too many demands on juvenile players. Athletics Ireland are doing something positive, that if explained properly, could generate positive PR.

It is fantastic to see that there is such an amazing young athlete out there. Let's hope we see her in Rio (and not London!)

robinph

It's all so much easier when the stand in a nice line for you so you can see their numbers easily:



That is all of my pictures from Sundays race uploaded now. Most of them are tagged so you can search with numbers and clubs as well.

AAI National Senior XC 2010 - RacePix


I even managed to get myself in a couple of shots <oops>

jinka

robinph wrote: »

It's all so much easier when the stand in a nice line for you so you can see their numbers easily:



That is all of my pictures from Sundays race uploaded now. Most of them are tagged so you can search with numbers and clubs as well.

AAI National Senior XC 2010 - RacePix


I even managed to get myself in a couple of shots <oops>

Look at that dude laughing-)