There were race winners from each of the Home Nations at the 31st British and Irish Masters Cross Country International on Saturday (November 17).

The event hosted by Wales and held in Swansea used a similar course at Singleton Park to the one used for the Welsh Cross Country Championships held earlier this year in February.

It was in Wales back in 1988 that the inaugural match was held at Wrexham and we had several athletes in action today who had competed at that first event.

The first race of the day was for the women’s categories and men’s over 65s where Teresa Doherty made the trip for Ireland count with outright race victory and a W40 title. Scotland’s Michelle Sandison was the third athlete home and the W35 winner.

England’s Kate Rennie won the W45 category, while compatriot Kath Bailey won the W50 race.

In the W55 race, Scotland’s Fiona Matheson won for a third consecutive time. The W60 honours went to Ireland’s Pauline Moran, while England’s Yuko Gordon claimed the W65 title.

Wales’ Alan Davies was a popular local winner in the M65 age-group with multiple previous winner Nigel Gates second. Gates made a welcome return to the event where he last took victory in 2004 after dabbling with Triathlon.

The sun continued to shine as the M50 through to M60 categories got their turn to do battle in the second race of the day.

Despite three athletes contesting most of the 8,000m course together, it was England’s Tim Hartley that took top honours for England with a M50 victory 10 years on from taking the M40 title at the same venue.

Northern Ireland’s Steve Cairns came home for the Silver medal. England’s Andrew Leach was close behind in third.

Mick Byrne was Ireland’s M55 winner with Scotland’s Alastair Walker securing M60 glory.

International victory for McKinstry

The final international race of the day saw Mark McKinstry take the M35 title with the largest race winning margin of the day by some way. The Northern Ireland man led from start to finish with his lead steadily growing throughout the 8,000m route of Singleton Park.

Photo: Rob Gale

“I knew I was in great shape coming into this race, I’m in the shape of my life,” said McKinstry afterwards. “I knew that the Welsh lad was a good athlete so I needed to keep an eye on him. When I started to pull away, I knew it was looking good.

“It was a great course and I really enjoyed it. My major aim for the season will be to get selected for the Northern Ireland senior team at the IAAF International at Dundonald, Northern Ireland in January.”

Phil Matthews was the Welshman that Mckinstry had feared and hung on for second place on the course where he’d taken the silver medal at the Welsh Cross Country Championships in February.

England did enough to take the M35 team title from Ireland, who had won it 12 months ago in Derry and overall won a superb 16 team golds.

Some results were unavailable at the time of publishing but the report will be updated in due course.

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The post Competitive racing at British and Irish Masters Cross Country appeared first on Fast Running.

Ireland has certainly come closer than Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland in the past but with the English strength in depth, it’s vital to get the best possible team across all the age groups out on the day.

Leading the Irish team are Claire Gibbons McCarthy of Leevale AC and Paddy Hamilton of Slieve Gullion Runners, who were first home at the trial races at Abbotstown a few weeks ago.

Hamilton finished second overall in the men’s race last year and a major boost for the men’s team is the news that Brian Maher of Kilkenny City Harriers, second at the National Cross-Country last year, is confirmed to run.

For McCarthy, it’s a first outing at masters level, and she may well follow Anne Carroll from Tullamore Harriers, Anne Keenan Buckley of Portlaoise AC, Riocht’s Niamh O’Sullivan and Ann Marie McGlynn by winning the overall race.

Leading the W60 team is Carmel Parnell of Leevale who stretched her own women’s record to eleven wins (nine of them consecutive) when taking the W60 title in Glasgow last year. If she wins a twelfth title, she will break Mike Hager’s overall record for most wins by anyone at this event.

Second behind her last year was former Irish marathon champion Christine Kennedy, who is back on the team this year, along with Mayo’s Pauline Moran who finished third last year, and Noreen Bonner of Finn Valley.

Two newcomers to international masters athletics are Mary Martin, 73 years of age, now with Dunboyne AC who ran 24 mins 10 secs at last Saturday’s Hartstown Parkrun for an astonishing age grading of 96% plus. Then there’s Mary Lynch W65 from Raheny, another consistent high performer.

Leading the M45 team is former Olympian Shane Healy of MSB who has been burning it up on the roads again in recent months. Colm Burke of St Abban’s, a previous winner at masters level, runs in the M50 age group.

Like the women, the men’s over 60 team are defending champions and on the team this year are Martin McDonald of Ballyroan Abbeyleix and District, Neilus Aherne, Johnny Feery and Matt Shields. Ireland also fields a strong M65 team led by defending champion JJ Murphy the barefoot king of Tinryland and Martin McEvilly from Galway.

Leading the Northern Ireland team are City of Derry’s Allan Bogle and Willowfield’s Amy Bulman. Other selected include Catherine Diver of Beechmount Harriers W40, Debbie Matchett of Ballydrain and City of Derry’s Hannah Shields, both W50; Anne Paul of City of Derry W55), North Belfast Harriers Andrew Considine M40, Duncan Bell of Willowfiled M50, North Down’s Terry Eakin M65 and the ageless mountain man Jim Patterson from Newcastle.

Irish Universities Road Relays, November 18

NUI Maynooth is the venue for Saturday’s Irish Universities Road Relays, with DCU aiming to get back on track after losing to University of Limerick last year in both men and women’s races.

For UL, it was only a second men’s victory since the relays began in 1987.

DCU began their domination in 2002 when the women began a winning streak that went on for nine years until 2012. The men have nine victories to their credit since 2003 and have won in seven of the last ten years.

Selected for the DCU men’s team is Dublin Novice champion Eoin Strutt who is likely to face Eoin Everard of UL on the three-mile leg.

Also running for DCU is Michael Carey. Una Britton, the winner of the Leinster senior cross-country title last weekend, leads the DCU women. Selected for UL are Michelle Finn and Amy O’Donoghue, both members of last year’s winning team.

UCD can also field strong teams and both Mark English and Ciara Mageean turned out in years past.

English ran as recently as last year for UCD when he clocked the fastest time for the final mile leg. Well over 250 athletes from colleges all over the country are expected to run on Saturday. The women run 1-2-2-1 miles, and the women 1-2-3-2-1 miles.

Elsewhere

On the roads, St Malachy’s Ben Branagh, winner of the Jimmy’s 10km returns to Downpatrick for Sunday’s Co Down 5km.

Also taking place on Sunday is the 52nd edition of the Hollymount International Road Races, in Co Mayo. Over its long history, the race has attracted a wide range of competitors from international level to locals who wish to take part for the fun and enjoyment of it all.

A busload of runners will be making the annual trip from the Liverpool area – a tradition that dates back to the 1970s. All visiting runners are put up free in the homes of local families for the weekend.

Sean Tobin from Clonmel AC will compete in Saturday’s NCAA Cross-County Championships after finishing sixth in the men’s 10km at the NCAA South Region Championships in Alabama and leading his team Ole Miss to second place. Tobin became Ireland’s most recent sub-four minute miler over the summer.

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