Cross Country Training Thread

HelenAnne wrote: »

The standard in the Leinster novice shouldn’t be much higher than the Dublin Novice, should it? (She asked nervously)

overpronator wrote: »

Wouldnt think so, especially as DCM is the same weekend.

I would also doubt it. From my own experience last year, I found them much the same, as regards fighting to keep out of the relegation zone (108/112 in Dublin, 110/115 in Leinster)

Last year's races were in Navan , where I got away with wearing runners - the ground was much heavier for National Novices, at the same venue last December.

This year's Leinster Masters races were also in Gowran, in January. I've never run there before, so I'm not sure if it's usually a faster or slower track than Navan or PP.

adrian522 wrote: »

So 114 of the 195 in the Over 26mins race ran sub 26 mins?

Correct. If you know you're going to be much faster than 26, why not go in the first race? For those in clubs who would be of the (very high!) standard required for last Sunday, would it not make more sense to run in that one? Different strokes for different folks, I suppose.

KSU wrote: »

Leinster is actually weaker than Dublin as team events more competitive so the big clubs usually field more depth

That applies to novice inter and senior

That definitely used to be the case but the last three years at least, the Men's Novice in Leinster has been better in terms of individual depth at the top (barring the winners in Dublin who rarely turn up for Leinster). But from positions 3 to 30, Leinster looks to be a lot deeper now. A few guys who are low 15mins for 5k in the top 10s in the last few years.

Men's is also strong because no one's noticed Crusaders keep on turning up with the same team to win the team title the last 3 years!! And then other clubs like Dunboyne, Mullingar and Ratoath have stronger squads than in the past too.

I don't know if we have a team this year - haven't heard anything about it, which suits me!

Wubble Wubble wrote: »

Entries for the Novice Men 6k are here (links to other categories from there).

Ah, that seems less strong than the last couple of years then for the men.

Women's novice looks pretty strong though!

Sacksian wrote: »

That definitely used to be the case but the last three years at least, the Men's Novice in Leinster has been better in terms of individual depth at the top (barring the winners in Dublin who rarely turn up for Leinster). But from positions 3 to 30, Leinster looks to be a lot deeper now. A few guys who are low 15mins for 5k in the top 10s in the last few years.

Men's is also strong because no one's noticed Crusaders keep on turning up with the same team to win the team title the last 3 years!! And then other clubs like Dunboyne, Mullingar and Ratoath have stronger squads than in the past too.

I don't know if we have a team this year - haven't heard anything about it, which suits me!

After I got absolutely blown outa it at the leinster novice, please tell me there was a decent standard in it and it wasn't just me haha.

Sacksian wrote: »

Maybe not quite as strong as last year, but definitely stronger overall than Dublin Novice. It's all about mid-December - everyone ahead of you has peaked already!

+1 to this.

Certainly true for the tailenders!

National Novice has now been confirmed for Cow Park in Dunboyne. Eek!

Sacksian wrote: »

Time for my annual revival of the xc thread....

The great thing about this year is that the marathon/road guys have no excuses for not doing xc so we could see some larger numbers than usual in some races (if everything goes as scheduled). Just got an email about Dublin and National fixtures for this year:

October 4th, Dublin Novice (no venue, but apparently not Phoenix Park) 6k/3k
October 11th, Autumn Open XC - Abbotstown - not sure of distances - 7.5k / 4k??
November 8th, Dublin Senior (no venue yet) 10k/6k
November 22nd, National Senior - Santry - 10k/8k
December 6th, National Novice - Gowran Kilkenny 6k/3k
December 13th, Dublin Intermediate - Tymon - 8k/5k

Hopefully it all goes ahead.

The Autumn open is the qualifying race for the British & Irish Masters XC. That is not going ahead this year apparently. I’d say the numbers would be down as a result?

Sacksian wrote: »

Time for my annual revival of the xc thread....

The great thing about this year is that the marathon/road guys have no excuses for not doing xc so we could see some larger numbers than usual in some races (if everything goes as scheduled). Just got an email about Dublin and National fixtures for this year:

October 4th, Dublin Novice (no venue, but apparently not Phoenix Park) 6k/3k
October 11th, Autumn Open XC - Abbotstown - not sure of distances - 7.5k / 4k??
November 8th, Dublin Senior (no venue yet) 10k/6k
November 22nd, National Senior - Santry - 10k/8k
December 6th, National Novice - Gowran Kilkenny 6k/3k
December 13th, Dublin Intermediate - Tymon - 8k/5k

Hopefully it all goes ahead.

About 90% certain Novice will be in Tymon as well though unclear whether it will be same course (there has been 3 courses used between intermediates and Seniors over the last few years)

Thought I was out of Novice this year but October means I’m back in for first race in new colours.

Think Numbers will definitely be interesting this year would be a shame to have the demand for once and not be able to accommodate people wanting to run XC

teacosy wrote: »

The Autumn open is the qualifying race for the British & Irish Masters XC. That is not going ahead this year apparently. I’d say the numbers would be down as a result?

Yes, the bulk of that race is usually the selection race but I'd say there'll be a lot of people looking for a good quality race, particularly given the lack of racing opportunities otherwise.

Euro Cross off...

https://www.athleticsweekly.com/athletics-news/euro-cross-in-dublin-cancelled-1039932208/

Sacksian wrote: »

Hard to know which way it'll go - they might just do it like the AI or Dublin athletics track races - enter early or miss out. Not ideal for championships, but should be some good racing this year if it goes ahead.

Given the team based nature of XC and the fact that these are championship races, is it more likely that affiliated clubs runners will be prioritized over non-affiliated or individual entries?
Also rather than a first come/first served approach, clubs will have to limit their entries to accommodate maximum entries permitted.

Great that there is a xc season schedule in place, fingers crossed it goes ahead.

Duanington wrote: »

I suspect that numbers will be an issue this year, as in - too many will want to run. I'm basing that purely off the number of people chatting about xc this winter though

Imagine with no DCM clubs should be able to rope in a few more than usual alright so I expect things to be a lot more competitive at the middle of the pack

MY BAD wrote: »

Castlegar in Galway have an open XC race in a couple of weeks if anyone is looking to dip their toe in cross country

Looking forward to this. First race in a while. Have heard good things about it from previous years.

mylesforsmiles wrote: »

Looking forward to this. First race in a while. Have heard good things about it from previous years.

Hoping to somehow get myself down there for this one too

adrian522 wrote: »

If the guidelines remain at a maximum of 200 people including coaches and officials it will be very difficult to see a normal Dublin novice, presumably with clubs limited to a handful of entries each.

About 200 entries between the men’s and women’s novice races last year - I guess they might be able to do what they did in track and leave enough time to clear the area between races to be safe this year.