Athletics 2021

I've attended a few xc races, 2 x world cross and euro cross in Dublin. World xc in Belfast was absolutely brilliant event to be at, great atmosphere, up close to the athletes, and you could sence they were feeding off it. Euro xc much the same,

World xc in Leopardstown was a damp squib from a spectators pov. Everyone in the stand area, and it allowed out in the course anywhere near the athletes.

All that said I'll certainly be going next week.

Also have more than a 2 hr commute.

Yeah, it was difficult in Santry because most parts of the course were fairly far apart, but at the Euros there’s points (more of a figure of 8 than a loop) where it’s about 150m/200m between two points which is ok if ya walk/scuttle across quickly. All part of the fun. I hope there’s a big screen or two so you can see them on the course at one point and then watch it on the screen.

Waterford AC’s Barry Keane has set an new Irish indoor record at the Boston University Sharon Colyear-Danville Season Opener.

Keane produced the fastest 5k of his life to clock a stunning 13:25:96, which ranks as Ireland's fastest ever by an Irishman. The performance made all the more impressive with Keane coming into the race off his recent NCAA cross country division 1 final appearance.

The time goes to top of the Irish all-time list, taking over from Alistair Cragg’s 13:28.93 record which had stood since March 2003.

And 2nd fastest Irish woman ever after Catherina. Fantastic to see. Paris isn't that far away.

It will be interesting to see how she recovers this week for the XC Euros. I see RTE are televising them, great news.

No doubt @Swashbuckler can confirm that!

Haha ye have too much faith in me...looks the the metaspeed sky yeah. Its an interesting one though. Eilish McColgan is sponsored by Asics so she wears nothing but Asics for all her road and track races and training. You'd wonder what she'd manage if she was able to throw on the supershoes . Little plug for Eilish actually. She's well worth following on Facebook or Instagram. Posts a lot of clips of her training and general daily life. And interacts with fans with questions too.

Loadsa parking in rosemount biz park, 15 min walk.

seriously though, parking in dunboyne is a joke, there will be people having to travel further to get to dunboyne. there must be abput 50,000 parking spaces free around rosemount and ballycoolin on sunday

So other than the GOAT who's your main draw tomorrow?

Me I'm looking forward to watching Nick Griggs in the U20.

shush, thats where i'll be going, but it will be scarce

Whoa, hold on there a minute. What's this about parking in Dunboyne. Isn't the m3 Parkway the designated park spot? Is that in Dunboyne?.

Surely there is closer parking than that? Bearing in mind I'll be travelling for 2 hrs from the other direction

It's on RTE2

The under 23 mens race was brilliant, delighted to see us place 2nd. A great fight to the end for McElhinney & a gold for the team...brilliant

Healy placed 5th, she just couldn't keep up with top 4 as they broke away.

Such a cracking race. Darragh is a warrior, looked so cool.

The noise and buzz here during it was incredible.

Yep, managed to park myself at a great spot about 40m from the tape. I'm 6 feet away from the relay handover, so can't wait to see this.

Brilliant I'd say its great there! The relay looks great, all down to the last leg now!

What a phenomenon day out, I'm still buzzing after it. Weather holding up certainly helped.

Some savage performance out there today. Performance of the day for me was Denmark Axel Christensen blowing away the field in the u/20 race.

Darragh Mac had a blinder and delighted to see the team taking the top spot.

Probably should have had another medal in the mixed relay. Savage run from Alex Bell to bring GB back into it.

Unfortunately our senior ladies apart for Fionnula were a bit off, but credit to Eilish Flanagan top 15 is very respectable. Michelle Finn didn't seem to have a good day out. Our ladies u/23 team struggling as well apart from Sarah Healy, her lack of miles in the legs told in the last lap.

Great running from Fay and Haso, pity Tobin wasn't recovered in time, on previous races he'd be close to the 2 lads. But sure that's running for you.

All in all a great day out.. Some entertainment for €9.00

Yes. Was happy to see Grovdal claim the gold. She has been a stalwart of European athletics for years. The less said about Bahta, the better.

I'm not sure what's wrong with Klosterhalfen. She seems to be regressing after a stellar 2017 and 2019. I know that she was battling injury last year, but at her best, would surely have run away from that field for an emphatic victory.

It was interesting to see Alina Reh claim the bronze medal ahead of Klosterhalfen. I used to live in Germany, when both were emerging as junior athletes. Reh was actually perceived as the more talented and identified as the one who would make the greatest impact on the global stage. However, the tables turned in late 2015 when Klosterhalfen produced an unexpected victory in the U20 event. Unfortunately, both of them seem to be quite injury-prone. I hope they both can now put together some quality, injury-free seasons and realize their undoubted potential.

Yeah I wouldn't disagree with you, however while he made the running he didn't go out any harder that the British guy or the 2 guys he was with.

That was my first time attending a major athletics event and I can definitely say I've got the bug now! Was a great day out! Will keep track on this thread to see if there's any events nearby that I'll be able to attend